You actually can hold the whole world in your hands – the digital world, at least.
One of the pitfalls of virtual and augmented reality is that we can’t interact how we normally would in the real world – with our hands. Whereas a traditional computer mouse is limited to two-dimensional space and simple point-and-click commands, we can’t hold a virtual 3D object in our hands and interact with it.
How often have you been frustrated with your computer because a mouse-click or keyboard command isn’t performing the action you intended? How many times have you just wanted to reach inside the TV screen or video game interface and touch an object with your hands? Now you can, thanks to this innovative motion sensing technology.
Enter Leap Motion
Leap Motion is a 3-D motion-control technology that allows users to interact with the virtual world using their hands as controllers.
What Makes Leap Motion So Great?
The VR software and hardware company is on a mission to eliminate the barriers between people and technology. Unlike computer mice, game or VR controllers, Leap Motion can realistically and intuitively maneuver in 3D.
How could a VR technology help you in the real world? Ask its users and developers. Leap Motion’s Lyra VR app lets music lovers create melodies and visual experiences to accompany them at the touch of their hands, but without all the limitations that exist in the real world. Other developers such as MotionSavvy are using it to knock down communication barriers as an American Sign Language translator.
Educational apps are using the technology to virtually dissect human brains and other body parts to study how the anatomy underneath functions. But that’s just the beginning. It could help train future doctors or redefine how engineers and architects construct projects.
It Is Accurate and Versatile
Leap Motion’s tracking technology is so accurate that it even detects finger and hand movements that it can’t see. Here’s how:
It accounts for how surfaces, objects and ambient light in the real world affect tracking in the digital world.
It tracks hand positions and movement that are at an angle that is outside of the camera’s view.
Users have demonstrated the accuracy of Leap Motion through a number of videos, like this one showing a user painting in 3D with their hands.
As one of the first players in the hand tracking space, Leap Motion has been able to advance and develop its capabilities. The release of Orion, their new software update that everyone can instantly access, is designed specifically for virtual and augmented reality.
Their motion sensing technology can be used with computer and VR hardware, because the software that powers it is designed to work alongside already existing devices. On Macs and PCs, users simply need to plug the Leap Motion controller into their computer’s USB port.
The device uses cameras and infrared lights to capture hand movement and then communicates the motion data to the computer, which mimics these movements and performs actions based on them.
Leap Motion’s Market
A market report from Deloitte Global estimated that the VR market would cross the billion dollar threshold in 2016. The industry is growing in terms of public interest and adoption, but it hasn’t quite hit mainstream levels yet. Experts predict that as more players enter the market, it is expected to do so in the near future. Leap Motion competitors fall into two main categories:
Hand-tracking and sensing software apps (Cyberith, Invensense)
VR headsets with controller-based gesture control hardware (Kinect, Oculus Touch)
The main differentiators of Leap Motion are compatibility and accuracy. The hand and finger tracking is said to be over 200 times more sensitive than any other on the market, detecting the subtlest movements which allow for complex functions. Its controllers and software are also designed to work with the various VR headsets and computer hardware available on the market.
Outlook for the Future
Virtual and augmented reality has seen tremendous growth in recent years. That growth will continue as fascination grows and technologies like Leap Motion’s hand tracking improves to support it.
Market forecasts predict that the augmented and virtual reality markets will reach over $120 billion by 2020. By that time, one report claims that the growth of VR will cause a 23% boost in the motion sensor market.
In an interview with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Leap Motion Co-Founder and CEO Michael Buckwald said that, “If VR and AR become mainstream, the hands will become a primary interface device for them.”
According to Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, “VR is going to need 10 years to become a very mainstream big thing.” Other industry leaders and researchers believe that it could happen sooner, within the next six to eight years. The key is realizing the myriad of potential real-life use cases that VR technology and motion tracking devices like Leap Motion present
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