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51Touch 2008-3-25 13:48

Gestures are taking control

IT'S fair to say that one of the most striking images in the 2002 film Minority Report was its vision of computing in the future. The sight of star Tom Cruise seamlessly searching layers of files and data through a combination of gestures and sweeps of his hand was inspirational to many, and prompted widespread musing as to when such interaction with machines would become a reality. As it turns out, not as long as the movie predicted (it was set in 2054). Indeed, just six years on, gesture computing is fast becoming common. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke of a future of gesture controls, a future of devices that respond to sound and touch rather than conventional input devices. Many people are likely to have been introduced to gesture computing through Nintendo's innovative Wii games console. Its motion-sensing controller, enabling gamers to re-create the physical action of sports such as tennis and golf proved a winner for the company and boosted sales of the Wii ahead of its higher specced console rivals. In the middle of last year Microsoft demonstrated its Surface technology, which enables any flat surface, such as a counter top or coffee table, to be transformed into a computer screen. Images and files can be called up, resized and manipulated by fingertip control, and devices such as telephones can communicate with the computer simply by being laid on the surface. Probably the best-known example on the consumer market to date is the touchscreen interface used by Apple for its iPhone and iPod Touch products. Apple's touchscreen system, dubbed Multi-Touch, differs from conventional touchscreen technology because it enables the user to navigate controls and menus using common gestures such as "pinching" or "flicking" through galleries of images. For example, it allows the user to simply glide a finger across the screen to activate the device and menus, or slide a finger up or down to scroll through contacts, photos or lists, or tap to zoom in on a website. The technology relies on changes in electrical currents rather than specific pressure points. More correctly called projected capacitive technology, it works by using a mesh of wires between two layers of glass. This mesh registers a touch when the electrical field is broken. The iPhone and iPod Touch are the best-known devices using the technology use, but other gadget manufacturers have not been far behind. The LG Prada phone, for example, uses a similar touchscreen interface. Also used in the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as in some digital cameras these days, are accelerometers - basically gyroscopes that automatically detect the orientation of a gadget as it is held in the hand. Thus, images displayed on an LCD screen, for example, can automatically switch between portrait and landscape modes, depending whether the device is being held vertically or horizontally. Accelerometer technology also has been integrated into the latest upmarket mobile phone from Nokia, the 8800 Arte, previewed in Australia last week, and to be launched here next month. Silas Grant, Nokia's lead designer for the Arte range, says the trend in products such as the 8800 and the iPhone is to make interaction with such devices more "human". "As a product begins its life cycle as a tech item, but when you get down the line, design increasingly becomes more and more important," Grant says. "The technology begins to even out, so it is how you can take that technology and make the interaction more interesting and intuitive that becomes more important. "This is where designing for control comes in, having the technology adapt to you, rather than you have to adapt to the technology." In Nokia's 8800 Arte phones, for example, touch technology and an accelerometer enable intuitive interaction with the phone. If it is laid flat on a table, for instance, a simple tap on its leather panel will flash up the time on its display. A simple stroke of the casing turns the volume up or down. If it rings when you are otherwise engaged, say in a meeting or restaurant, you need only flip it on its back to intercept and delay the call. The accelerometer automatically detects that you do not wish to be disturbed and switches off the phone. "It is all about using things like motions, gestures and light to do these kind of things rather lots of buttons, knobs and menus," Grant says. "The heritage of technology has always been hi-tech and spec-heavy. This is a much more human way of interacting with a device." It is not just a matter of using technology for technology's sake, Grant says. Good interface design must be intuitive and meet a real need. "There are mechanical engineers, and then there are mechanical engineers with vision. When you have that sort of talent, you have to use it in a way that works for the consumer," he says. "The key is to produce products that people fall in love with, that is important. And the way to make people fall in love with products is to make them second nature to use." He says this was one of the problem with a lot of attempts to produce wearable technology - too often they resulted in products that were novel, but didn't really add to the user experience. "It is not just about designing wearable technology for the sake of it, it is how it is interpreted," Grant says. "If a product works best when it is wearable, it is good. But you can't force it." One of the next big leap forwards in technology interaction is due to arrive in Australia in May, when Nintendo introduces its next step in the evolution of the Wii console - Wii Fit. The Wii Fit device extends the console's existing motion sensor technology into weight and balance detection. It will basically consist of a custom Balance Board peripheral device and software that will allow gamers to perform more than 40 exercises across such categories as balance, yoga, muscle workouts and aerobic exercises, as well as more fun challenges such as football goal-keeping or snowboarding. The board is equipped to give users an analysis of their body mass index as well as calculate their centre of gravity. And, yes, the Holy Grail of a device that actually can detect body gestures and movements and translate them into controls may also be near at hand as well. For example, Australian researchers at the Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design have already devised a television remote control that responds to human gestures. The device interprets hand signals and translates them into commands for the television. While the team have already produced a prototype that clips on the hand, they predict that in time such a device will replace the remote's complex buttons and arrow keys with a series of hand gestures. [attach]822[/attach] The LG Prada phone can register a touch [attach]823[/attach] The Nokia 8800 will be launched in Australia in April [attach]824[/attach] The Wii Fit device will allow gamers to perform more than 40 exercises

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