Wear to control
Integrating the best that our tactile input devices can offer with gesture control is the thinking behind Flow. The device can be programmed to offer a number of input options depending on the environment it is being used in.
Users of Photoshop, for instance, can turn the outer ring of Flow to access brush sizes, or change colour hues, which is much more intuitive than using a mouse. Think of the precise control you have when turning the dial of your hi-fi to increase the volume. Now apply that principle to your design applications. However, Flow offers much more, as it can also deliver gesture control to bridge the tactile and virtual environments that many designers inhabit.
Wearable devices have also been growing in popularity over the last couple of years. Beginning in the personal fitness and health sectors, wearable technologies are entering the mainstream. All eyes are of course on Apple and how successful (or not) their Watch will be. For gesture control, wearable devices offer an always-on technology that could eventually become ubiquitous.
Already we have FIN, Ring Zero, Nod and Mycestro that use the ring form factor as the basis for gesture control. Just as we intuitively use our fingers in everyday life, FIN allows simple hand and finger gestures to control a wide range of electronic devices. The fact that it is a ring and can be worn at all times makes this innovation an important one to watch. At some point in the future we may all become so used to this type of gesture technology, that we'll always wear these devices and they'll become second nature to use.
Wearing a piece of technology all of the time to enable gesture control may not be for everyone, but what if you could turn any surface quickly into a touch-enabled platform? This is the promise behind RACTIV's Touch+ that simply uses two ordinary cameras to track the position of your hands. When you're not gesturing at your computer you can even use them as webcams. The device doesn't need any special apps or other software to work out of the box. It is also compact offering a gesture interface for your devices when you're on the move.
Immersive control
Gesture control is all well and good, but you are still manipulating your applications and work on a flat screen. The much heralded age of VR could soon be with us, as a number of innovators have shown their take on the head-mounted display, and what we can do with this apart from play games and watch movies.
The buyout of Oculus Rift by Facebook grabbed the headlines. And with headgear that you use with your phone also becoming available, fully immersive environments look like they are just around the corner.
Microsoft's HoloLens has perhaps the most potential as a tool. Melding the concepts of VR, gesture control and augmented reality, HoloLens could be the foundation for a whole new way of working with our computers.
All of the gesture technologies that are available don't claim to enable us all to throw away our keyboards, mice or styluses – most of these technologies are designed to deliver a new additional way to control applications.
A hybrid approach is often stated as being the optimum way to use gesture. And news that Apple was granted a gesture controlling patent earlier this year could mean that gesture will eventually become the primary way we all interact with our devices.
