Waving in the future: intuitive technology comes to the fore

Waving in the future: intuitive technology comes to the fore

With gesture technology upon us, sci-fi devices from Hollywood’s future is now reality, says Rufus Leonard’s Iain Millar.

October 10, 2011 11:49 by kippreport

No longer are the machines seen in ‘Minority Report’ confined to the big screen. Hand gesture technology is bursting into the mainstream through devices such as the Xbox Kinect, Nintendo Wii and the mass-acceptance of touchscreen.

Intuitive forms of interaction and display mean that body movements, facial recognition, touch and eye tracking are quickly becoming viable methods of interacting with technology.

Recent innovations in smart devices and touch screen technologies are changing the ways humans interact with machines. Devices, once considered pure science fiction, are becoming an affordable reality, as an up-and-coming online generation demands multiple forms of interaction. This isn’t just the end of the humble mouse and keyboard combination, but a step change in the relationship between man and computer.

Navigating without a mouse completely changes the way web sites can be built and used

Voice and facial recognition brings new contextual awareness to computers (and new targeting opportunities to advertisers)

Increasingly immersive digital technology will provide more meaningful buying experiences at home

Object recognition and augmented reality will blur the physical and digital worlds

A growing range of sensors will create increasingly intuitive and predictive responses from machines

Iain Millar, Head of Innovation at Rufus Leonard, explores the impacts that the ‘human controller’ could have on the web, digital products and brand interactions.