Project Soli - ultra high res radar motion detection for futuristic user interface control

primesuspect

Keep an eye on this. Crazy future shit:

Hero

So cool. I wonder how long it would take me to learn to use an interface like that. Considering how painful windows 8 was for me, (I pretty much just figured out how to do everything old school without gestures) it will probably be a big learning curve.

Cyclonite

That's pretty damn cool.

Thrax

Natural user interfaces (NUI) is a hot topic in computing right now. The rise in compute density has enabled corresponding shrinking of devices into form factors like the smart watch, which have finally reached useful performance and capability relative to their size. However, the size of a device is inversely proportional to the convenience and accuracy of its input. So there is a great race to make strides in human interaction to keep pace with this incredible miniaturization. Even the smartphone suffers as dials, sliders, buttons and links hide behind the user's finger--you've all experienced this.

Even laptops could benefit, too. People who have used touch laptops often enjoy the ability to quickly pan, scroll, swipe and click, but it still gets tiring at the shoulder. Now there is compute being dedicated to analyzing user gestures to execute these movements, so the user can keep their hand comfortably resting in their lap or on the chassis. I would much rather slide my thumb along my forefinger to scroll than fuss with a touchpad.

Smart TVs could really benefit. Tiled UIs like Netflix could benefit. Google image search could benefit. There are so many applications that we use every day that would be a lot more convenient if we had a mechanical user interface that molded to the ergonomic ways we interacted with our world.

CB

More natural interfaces is always inevitable.

From punchcards to keyboards to mouses to stylii to touchscreens to voice recognition and eye tracking, every step we take is a step toward interacting with the computer less on its terms and more on ours. Why should that stop now?

Incidentally, this is why I think mass-market humanoid robots are an eventuality (albeit a distant one). I often hear futurists talk about how it's an unlikely future because it's not a mechanically practical shape for, like, getting shit done, but I don't think it's about that. the humanoid robot is the pinnacle input device. If the trend of human-computer interface trends always toward more natural for us, what's more natural for us than touching and talking with another person?

Hero

@CB said:
I often hear futurists talk about how it's an unlikely future because it's not a mechanically practical shape for, like, getting shit done, but I don't think it's about that. the humanoid robot is the pinnacle input device. If the trend of human-computer interface trends always toward more natural for us, what's more natural for us than touching and talking with another person?

I agree, though I think it will be important to have them resemble human form. But not try to be to exact. There is a point where it will shift from more accessible to creepy.

PirateNinja

I'll take my love bots as human as possible thank you very much

Tushon

@PirateNinja said:
I'll take my love bots as human as possible thank you very much

You mean like this?
Australian accent: "I'm skilled in all forms of entertainent, erotic or otherwise"

Too bad she starts shooting people later in that episode.

Dark Matter (sci-fi)

Karma

@PirateNinja said:
I'll take my love bots as human as possible thank you very much

But then they'll just get disappointed and leave