if start-up Leap Motion has its way, later this year people will be throwing away their mouse, their keyboard, and their Microsoft Kinect in droves, when their new motion sensor controller Leap hits the market at $70. Instead of typing or moving the mouse to operate software, Leap users will wave their hands, swipe their fingers, and in other ways use gesture to control what’s happening on-screen.

If the company is right, Leap will open the door to an entirely new way to interact with computers. Leap Motion says the technology is 200 times more accurate than anything else on the market “at any price point.” Not much larger than a flash drive, Leap is said to be able to distinguish individual fingers and track movements down to 1/100th of a millimeter. For the first time, computer users will be able to use natural hand and finger movements in mid-air. . . .
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Leap Motion is the brainchild of co-founders David Holz (CTO) and Michael Buckwald (CEO). Holtz was working on a PhD in mathematics from UNC Chapel Hill and left to pursue Leap Motion. Before that, he was conducting research for NASA on fluid mechanics. Before starting Leap Motion Buckwald was the CEO of Zazuba.com. The two have been friends from childhood.

The venture capital behind Leap Motion reads like a Silicon Valley Who’s Who: Highland Capital, Founders Team, Andreessen Horowitz, and SOSventures International. Individual investors include Brian McClendon, a VP of engineering at Google whose background includes Google Earth, and Bill Warner, founder of Avid Technology.
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If the Leap motion sensor controller is everything Leap Motion suggests, it will be a breakthrough for user input. The mouse and touchpad will become second-string devices. The ability to track individual fingers and track movements down to 1/000th of a millimeter is far beyond the range of anything on the market today, for a desktop device. The company says the breakthrough is mostly in the software, not in the hardware sensor device they are using. That means others are no doubt working on similar technologies.

Leap Motion plans to ship in December 2012

Well, are your patents still pending? Does this invention do what yours intended?

It is very difficult to get from the idea stage to market. You need to have a track record to get venture capital.

And it is different than Kinnect, isn't it?


Shall i try for an evaluation copy? That scene from HL series looks familiar btw.

Touch is great, except when it’s not convenient to touch. Leap Motion is a motion-control sensor that has captured the attention of users and OEMs in a big way. The company’s product is a small sensor with a large detection field and motion-control software. They just announced collaboration with HP to bring 3D motion control to HP devices. In the beginning, the controller will be bundled with some HP products.

HP computers supporting Leap will come with Leap’s Airspace driver soft­ware pre-loaded. The Leap controller is scheduled to ship in May for $79.99. The company has previously announced alliances with Adobe, Autodesk, Corel, and Disney for software support. The companies say several products are al­ready supporting Leap including gaming, music, education, art, and productivity.

Asus has already announced plans to ship products with the Leap Motion controller. ...

Gesture arrives in 2013. In addition to Leap Motion, Microsoft and Prime Sense are courting OEMs to use their stereoscopic devices for gesture control. It’s going to be interesting as companies battle for software support. Leap has the jump for the moment.

https://live.leapmotion.com/index.html

MS Kinect for PC for $249.. This is only $70, and far more accurate!