If you've ever watched "Minority Report" and wished that you could interact with your computer just by waving your hands around, then you might want to take a look at the Leap. It's a tiny little gadget which will supposedly allow you to control your devices by waving your hands, wiggling your fingers, or fidgeting with a pen.
Of course there's plenty of 3-D motion-control technology out there already — the Kinect comes to mind, for example — but the Leap will still blow your mind. (If you think I'm exaggerating, just watch the video below and tell me that you didn't get at least a bit excited.)
Made by Leap Motion, a motion-control software and hardware company, the Leap is marketed as "the world's most accurate 3-D motion control device." It is supposedly 200 times more sensitive than existing technologies, can detect motion within a space of four cubic feet, is accurate to within 1/100th of a millimeter, and can detect all ten of your fingers (as well as objects such as pens).
The Leap will connect to your computer via USB and calibrate in just one step. You will be able to fine-tune the device's sensitivity settings, create custom gestures, and even network multiple Leap devices together to create a larger interaction space.
"I believe the Leap is the future of how people will interact with their devices,” says Bill Warner, founder of Avid Technology and one of Leap Motion's investors, in a press release. “What's previously been an expensive special effect in movies is now an affordable everyday reality, in full 3-D. With the Leap, you use both hands and all 10 fingers to work within your computer's virtual environment just as easily as you do in the real world.”
The Leap will be priced at $69.99 and will ship this winter. It can be pre-ordered on the Leap Motion site right now. I will, of course, try to get my hands on one as soon as possible so that I can see if it really is as incredible as it looks in Leap Motion's demo video.
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