Microsoft Turns Jazz Hands Into Gesture Commands Using Sound Waves - knottsscou1949

Well-nig gesture-based control systems we use now rely connected either motion-capture cameras–like-minded the Kinect–or a touchscreen device. Just researchers from Microsoft Research and the University of Washington are developing a system that can discover object with sound waves, like how a bat does with echolocation.

With the SoundWave project, the researchers aim to bring gesture controls to whatever computer that has a put of speakers and mike. The program uses the Doppler Effect of sound waves for to detect objects and accredit motion.

The Doppler Effectuate, as you might remember from so many years of science classes, is a principle of physics where the frequency of waves (complete waves, easy waves) shifts contingent whether the source of that sound (Beaver State light, etc…) is tossing toward or away from you. The most common illustration is a passing train, where the fathom coming from the train seems to get deeper as it passes you.r.

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SoundWave uses your reckoner's speakers to emit an imperceptible, ultrasonic audio signal at 20-22 Kilohertz–and you can still play music while it's doing this. If you curl your hand in the neighborhood of your computer, the sound waves that would have travelled through the air bounce remove of your hand instead.

The computers microphone can pick up the audio signal and the SoundWave program can interpret whatsoever changes in the frequence as a gesture command. Thus far the team has been able to detect cardinal different variables convoluted with a change of relative frequency, including the speed, way, proximity, size, and number of the objects, American Samoa well as the frequency of the move.

From this, the Soundwave program can perform a number of the usual computer commands such as scrolling, clicking and double clicking, rotating objects, or automatically locking the computer while you're departed. The researchers say that SoundWave is 90 to100 pct accurate, even in a shouted crowded room, and can even follow used to play a round of Tetris.

The all but significant vantage of the SoundWave system is that it could add motion controls to computers and laptops that don't have a touch screen display or a webcam. That said, the practicality of flailing your hands approximately over your keyboard and trackpad to manipulation your laptop is fishy.

[Microsoft Research via Phys Org]