The computer from the film Minority Report now looks
like it could soon become a reality following the development of
a new device called Sixth Sense created by the fluid interfaces
research group at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
In the film Tom Cruise manipulates information on a giant
computer screen using hand gestures. Sixth Sense is a device that
you wear around your neck that contains a small projector and
webcam.
The pendant communicates either with a laptop in a
backpack or a smartphone connected to a remote server. The webcam
monitors the user's hand gestures and conveys them to control
software running on the laptop or server.
This then displays information on any surface and can be
manipulated with hand gestures. This software uses the projector to
initially display a menu. The user taps on an icon, and this
gesture is relayed to the software, which opens the selected
application.
This could be something like a map displayed on the surface,
which the user can then control with a wave of their hand.
Video courtesy of
New Scientist.