Switch channels on your TV by just swishing your hand in the air, do away with the selfie stick; just pose and snap your finger. Do a thumbs-up, to post a like on FB, raise your hand to mute the speaker, point your finger to transfer files from one folder to another. . .
These are just some of the multitudes of possibilities opening up with the emergence of gesture-based technology. We have travelled through the ages of touch-based control, witnessed an exciting phase of voice-based control and are now at the threshold of hands-free and voice-free control. We are soon entering the age of gesture-controlled wearables. Tasks can be achieved through simple movement of fingers, regular gestures that we make in our daily lives - to open a door, flip through the pages of a book, stop / hold something, point to indicate a direction and so on. This opens the realms of opportunities in terms of how we can leverage gesture control wearables, to make the most of possibilities in real life, virtual reality and augmented reality. The amalgamation of these three worlds can lead to nail-biting scenarios.
Google recently launched the exciting Google Soli, a radar-based wearable to control anything. A small radar the size of a 50 pence coin, that sits in your wearable. This detects your hand and finger gestures enabling control of any electronic device. Here is a link, which gives a view in to Google Soli. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNiZfSsPc0
Leap Motion has launched the impressive Leap Motion Controller. A simple device that connects to your computer. It senses your hand gestures and allows you to interact with your computer in a radically new way. Quick Switch from Leap Motion is yet another gesture-sensing app, which helps one transition from VR to the real world, with just a wave of the hand. Simply exciting! Check out this link, which shows you how. http://blog.leapmotion.com/new-demo-switch-vr-real-world-simple-gesture/
I am inclined to explore the avenues of adoption of gesture-based technology in Healthcare, my current pet industry
Healthcare:
1. Remote access: Mount Sinai Hospital has accomplished robotic surgery for head & neck disease and sleep apnea. Surgeons sit at a console to control the robotic arm, which actually performs the surgery. Gesture-based technology, will take this a step further. Robotics, coupled with gesture-based technology is a step in to the future. This will allow specialists sitting anywhere across the globe, to be available for patients. With improved infrastructure capabilities, cost of investments will gradually stabilise enabling increased adoption of path-breaking medical treatments such as these.
2. Call for assistance: A bed-ridden patient need not reach out to press the assistance button. By just motioning his / her fingers, an alert is raised for the physician to attend immediately.
3. Post-discharge: Patients can effectively monitor their physio-therapy routines. With routines programmed in to a system, and topped up with gesture-based technology which can map the accuracy of the postures, patients can instantly monitor how accurate they are in their physio-therapy routines. Almost like the Microsoft Kinect Xbox which scores you basis accuracy of your stance.
4. Hygiene in an operation theatre: Surgeons periodically check the screen, or the x-ray while performing a surgery. The surgeon sanitises his / her hand each time to return to the surgery, or they simply ask someone else to read out from the scree / report. With gesture-based technology, it eliminates the need for the surgeon to physically touch an xray / access the system. Thus, enabling a smoother, faster and sanitised operation routine where every second could be critical.
In my opinion, gesture-based technology would make a difference, where existing infrastructure is replaced with a simple device that recognises gestures. Like in some of the possibilities indicated above, gesture-based technology frees us to focus on the task at hand. Whether it will replace voice-based control completely, for eg: in mobile phones, I would not think so. Hands-free has its advantages. What I can do by just speaking in to my instrument I would not see the need to use my hands to communicate the same message.
With the ability to recognise intuitive gestures, gesture-based technology is humanising technology. Are humans better understanding technology? Or is technology better understanding humans?
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