Myo: The Next Generation Gesture Control Device
The digital world may soon be in the palm of your hand …err I mean around your wrist, thanks to a new armband designed by a Canadian start-up company, Thalmic labs. According to this article on mashable.com, the armband called the ‘Myo’ allows its wearers to seamlessly control and operate digital devices from a distance, through gestures and hand movements. It does this through electrodes that detect electrical activity caused by the wearer's muscle movements, and through this, the armband is able to detect even the tiniest movements of each finger and even accounts for accidental input.
The Myo connects to most devices via bluetooth, and the designers foresee many applications for it, including allowing wearers to control presentations, browse the Internet, play video games and edit audio, among other tasks — entirely hands-free. The Thalmic site says “Windows and Mac OS will be supported, and APIs will be available for iOS and and Android developers to integrate the Myo on the mobile platforms.” According to the site, the armband costs $149, and will start shipping in late 2013.
I’d be most excited to see this tech being adopted by consoles, since I’ve
always found the X box’s Kinectic sensor (and the similar Play Station move) a
little annoying, but it’d be equally entertaining and useful to use it during a
class presentation. (Although my presentations might end up becoming more like
games as a result!) What about you, at approx. Dh600, would you buy it?
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