It is already perfectly ordinary to interact with a new wave class of devices entirely by using natural gestures. The Microsoft Surface, the iPhone and iPod Touch, the Nintendo Wii, and other gesture-based systems accept input in the form of taps, swipes, and other ways of touching, hand and arm motions, or body movement. These are the first in a growing array of alternative input devices that allow computers, like Hitachi, and PC makers that are on the brink of rolling out game consoles, televisions and computers that use gestures to control the machines. The idea that natural, comfortable motions can be used to control computers is opening the way to a horde of input devices that look and feel entirely different from the keyboard and mouse.
Gesture-based interfaces are changing the way we interact with computers, giving us a more innate way to control devices. They are increasingly built into things we can already use; Logitech and Apple have brought gesture-based mice to market, and Microsoft is developing several models. Smart phones, remote controls, and touch-screen computers that casually accept gesture input. You can make music louder or softer by moving a hand, or skip a track with the flick of a finger. Instead of learning where to point and click and how to type, we are beginning to be able to expect our computers to respond to natural movements that make sense to us.
The most common applications of gesture-based computing are for computer games, file, media browsing, and simulation and training. A number of simple mobile applications use gestures. Mover lets users “flick” photos and files from one phone to another; Shut Up, an app from Nokia, silences the phone when the user turns it upside down; nAlertme, an anti-theft app, sounds an alarm if the phone isn’t shaken in a specific, preset way when it is switched on. PicLens currently offers a small icon cue inset in each Web photo that lets users know they are at a site like Facebook and Google that can be browsed with the software. Some companies are exploring further possibilities; for example, Softkinetic develops platforms that support gesture-based technology, as well as designing custom applications for clients, including interactive marketing and consumer electronics as well as games and entertainment.
Because it changes not only the physical and mechanical aspects of interacting with computers, but also our perception of what it means to work with a computer, gesture-based computing has the potential to transform technology forever. The user and the machine become closer and the sense of power and control increases when the machine responds to movements that feel natural. Unlike a keyboard and mouse, gestural interfaces can often be used by more than one person at a time, making it possible to engage in truly collaborative activities and games. These activities that are used frequently in many casual sporting activities are suited now becoming suited for gestural interfaces on game consoles, televisions and computers.
