Back in 2011, Apple introduced Siri, the digital personal assistant that integrated speech recognition technology in the iPhone 4S. This reveal was a game changer, greatly impacting the technology industry. From then on, companies refocused their product strategies on speech recognition, creating a billion dollar market now evolving through artificial intelligence.
Here at Xesto, we believe that touchless gesture technology is where speech recognition was back in 2011. Following the same growth trajectory as voice recognition, touchless gesture recognition will be the next major focus for the technology industry and dramatically change how people use their applications. This is supported by the numbers too. According to a global report by MarketsandMarkets, the gesture recognition industry will grow by almost 30%, becoming a $19 billion market (USD) by 2022.
It may seem a little daunting to think about all the possibilities of a touchless world, so we want to jump start your ideation process and help you dream about the touchless gestures you can create for your applications.
Healthcare
Innovative touchless technologies are rapidly transforming the healthcare industry. Current healthcare companies are building and implementing touchless solutions, ranging from touchless medical imaging systems to gesture-controlled operating rooms. As sensor recognition hardware improves, these applications will be increasingly more accurate, further improving patient care.
A great example of healthcare innovation comes from developer Julien Schuermans in 2016. Using a Leap Motion, he designed a gesture-controlled system to control the EndoWrist® of The da Vinci® Surgical System. This is a surgical tool that allows for high levels of precision during endoscopic procedures. Combined with Julien’s software, operating the tool is much more intuitive for surgeons, all while maintaining its precision. If a single person can create this, it is enticing to imagine the potential solutions that can be created with greater resources (perhaps a full development team?). Seeing is believing, so take a look at Julien’s demo video below.
We are always looking for opportunities to support people driven to make a difference. Earlier this month, Xesto partnered with Hacking Health Toronto for ArthritisHack, a healthcare-focused hackathon sponsored by The Arthritis Society. From the evening of October 13th to October 15th at the MaRS Discovery District in Downtown Toronto, participants built innovative solutions primarily targeted towards individuals who suffer from arthritis.
By using Xesto’s API with Leap Motion devices, participants could easily create touchless gestures for their applications in minutes. Audun, our Co-Founder and CTO, was on-site to teach attendees about our platform and help them explore how they could use our API to make an impact in healthcare.
Extended Reality
Technology companies are investing to transform how people interact with their surroundings. The capabilities of touchless gestures extend to all industries, ranging from consumer-facing products to productivity solutions for businesses. We will focus here on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), but companies are researching in the mixed reality (MR) space as well, with touchless innovations like Microsoft’s Hololens.
In AR, companies competing in the mobile space are building development kits such as Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore, leveraging depth sensing technologies on new phones like the iPhone X’s TrueDepth camera and the Pixel 2’s dual-pixel autofocus respectively. Soon, both depth sensing hardware and software will become more widely adopted, not just in mobile, but also other electronics. As this happens, you can expect to be able to control your devices using touchless gestures (even a quick wave of your hand).
There are developments on the VR side too. Attaching a Leap Motion device to most VR headsets, including the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and OSVR, or using the Leap Motion Mobile VR Platform allows applications to accurately recognize hand movements. This level of touchless interactivity opens the door for much more immersive experiences, ranging from video games where you interact with your character (they can wave back at you!) to productivity tools like virtual workspaces.
We are proud to sponsor Hack Western 4, taking place at London, Canada’s Western University from November 17th to 19th. We will also be bringing mentors from our team to support the developers using our API. We are excited to see what hackers create using our API with the Leap Motion and other VR devices. In addition to Hack Western, we will be partnering with other hackathons, so stay tuned to future announcements.
What Will You Do?
We quickly highlighted the value of touchless gestures in two industries. However, the potential of touchless gesture recognition extends much further. Imagine all the possible creations in vehicles, retail stores, connected homes, and so much more. Are you excited? Now it’s your turn.
Xesto provides the first custom touchless gesture recognition platform for developers, allowing them to create and train touchless gestures that they can easily integrate into new or existing applications. Using our API essentially makes those applications touchless and interactive in minutes.
If you want to try it for yourself, we will be launching our Leap Motion beta soon for Javascript and C#.
Plus, taking this survey will get you an exclusive discount.
Would you like to join? https://xesto.io.
Written by Christopher Kim.
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