SoundWave!



Microsoft Research, developed a Kinect-like system that uses your computer's built-in microphone and speakers to provide object detection and gesture recognition!

Microsoft Research and the University of Washington, have created a motion control system that works like Kinect, using your computer's built-in microphone and speakers, much in the same way that a submarine uses sonar.
This is a new "SoundWave" tech.

Microsoft Research has created a new "SoundWave" technology that utilizes the Doppler effect to detect gestures. The SoundWave project uses a microphone and speaker to sense the frequency change of a sound wave by outputting inaudible sounds and measuring their change in frequency as a hand gesture is used.

The result is an array of gestures that can be activated in a similar way to Microsoft's Kinect technology, even if audio is playing from a laptop or there's a lot of background noise. Laptop users can use up and down gestures to scroll through documents or websites, and there's also a left and right swipe gesture that works well enough to use in picture navigation software. One particular useful implementation is the ability to detect when a user steps away from a machine, Microsoft demonstrates this, in the video below, as a way to automatically lock a workstation when it's unused. While this won't be available mainstream anytime soon, it does demonstrate how gestures could be a big part of our interaction with existing and future computers in the years ahead.
Pretty interesting concept! Check out how it works by watching the video below!


NEWS SOURCE #1: http://blogs.technet.com/b/next/arch...d-digital.aspx
NEWS SOURCE #2: http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/8/300...doppler-effect

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news story!