In the office these days, there’s a lack of drama. Drama that could be taken to awesome new levels with the right amount of hand gestures, teeth gritting and intense looks of determination behind the glow of a 30″ HD monitor. 3Gear Systems is bringing all that in multiple ways today, introducing impressive new gesture recognition (smack), previewing an entirely new depth-sensing device (SMACK) and announcing $1.9 Million in seed funding (SMAA-HAACK!!). With it, they plan to deliver a gesture recognition system that “actually works” and can be used in a broader array of applications than anyone has ever thought possible. Here’s just how they’re changing the gesture control landscape.
Their tech has come quite a way since we first covered them. When they started developing gesture recognition, it was much like everyone else discovering how to recognize extremely deliberate hand movement–Kinect sensors, limited movement, lagging response and painful calibration. Now, that changes.
Today our system can track arbitrary 10-finger gestures and takes under a second to calibrate. Lastly, we’ve designed a catalog of gestures around activities our users care about, including browsing the web, watching videos, playing games and manipulating 3D models.
That’s certainly some business that has caught the eye of investors. The $1.9 Million was led by Palo Alto’s K9 Ventures, with Intel Capital, CrunchFund, Ovo Fund (Eric Chen), Safa Rashtchy and others filling out the roster. This is certainly some good news for those interested in seeing gesture recognition take off. We’re optimistic of the technology as well, especially when it comes to interacting with 3D model data. With the talk of gesture recognition coming built into monitors and mobile devices, 3D applications are going to need to bring touch control off the screen. And gesture device developers, like 3Gear, will need to consider how precision input devices can work along side to augment and compliment the interaction with 3D data.
You can find out more and get started with the 3Gear Devkit on their site. Here’s a quick look and where they are at today with gesture recognition technology.
