"Minority Report"-like full-body controls aren't just for gaming. Kinect-like motion controls are making their way to PCs and televisions.
At the annual Consumer Electronic Show taking place in Las Vegas starting Thursday, companies will be showing off software and cameras designed to bring controller-free motion controls to devices well beyond the Xbox 360.
For starters, hardware manufacturer ASUS has teamed up with PrimeSense (an Israeli company involved in the Kinect camera technology) to introduce the WAVI Xtion – a device that allows you to control your PC with the movements of your body.
A Wavi Xtion setup will allow users to connect their PCs to their TVs and then control and browse the content using the movements of their body. According to the official press release, users will be able to access the Internet as well as social networks, and "enjoy full body interaction in a more user-friendly and natural living room experience."
"WAVI Xtion is the unprecedented living room experience that will revolutionize users' recreational lives,” said Kent Chien, ASUS General Manager, in the release.
For a visual explanation of how it all works together, check out Engadget's collection of Wavi Xtion press images.
WAVI Xtion is scheduled to be available during the second quarter of 2011. In February, they will also release a software development kit – Xtion Pro – so that developers can build applications that use the sensor technology.
Meanwhile, Softkinetic has partnered with Intel to adapt its motion-control iisu middleware (aka the Interface Is You) to the Intel Atom Processor CE4100. This will "enable a natural gesture experience for a wide variety of consumer applications," according to the press relase. Among them – interactive television and movie channel navigation, web browsing, video conferencing and gesture-based video games.
With this in mind, Softkinectic has also teamed up with Optrima-Namuga, which will be showing off its new Optrima DepthSense camera at CES. This 3-D, HD video and audio camera can be used with both desktop computers and connected televisions to control video games, various TV interfaces, and to do video conferencing, according to the press release.
“The availability of a high-performance, low-cost 3-D camera with built-in audio and video will dramatically contribute to the adoption of 3-D gesture-based interfaces and applications by consumers,” said Andre Miodezky, CEO of Optrima.
You know what this means — a whole lot more motion controlled air guitar!
For more on this topic see:
Kinect's five most ridiculous moments
Kinect meets 'World of Warcraft'
Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter.
