[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCARtauIS50[/youtube]
The technology behind Xbox Kinect can be applied in so many areas and the video clip above represents only a small part of its usefulness. A team of researchers from MIT used a new technology to control an iPod Touch without touching it. The technology used by them involves a camera similar to the one in Kinect and a sophisticated system capable of interpreting the gestures of the users and operating the terminal. Basically, a camera is mounted on the user and the palm takes the place of the device and any gesture made on the palm is transferred to the device. Researchers have established that 2 thirds of iDevice owners are able to locate in the palm of the hand the parts where the applications would be on the screen or the place where a swype must be made to unlock the device.
Instead of using an actual device, users mimic the interaction on the palm of their hand. The interaction is tracked by a wearable depth camera which sends input events to the actual physical device. By mimicking the layout of the physical device, here an iPhone, users can operate the device based on spatial memory built up while using the physical device.
Practically everything you see there represents a technology that in the future we will be able to use to control who knows what kind of devices. It's interesting how most tests of this kind focus on iDevices and not terminals with Android OS.
