BackMicrosoft developing next-gen ‘no-touch’ screens
Microsoft's new technology will allow users to control a screen operated from afar, without the need to swipe it
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London: US tech giant Microsoft Corp. is working on next-generation technology that will enable “no-touch" phones, tablets and TV sets that can be operated from afar, without the need to swipe them.
The technology will allow users to control a screen with their fingers even from the other side of the room and put their hands through a screen to “touch" objects.
Rico Malvar, chief scientist at Microsoft Research, said work has begun on new screens that can be manipulated without needing to approach a gadget. The company is building an electronic bracelet that can detect movements in a person’s fingers, allowing the person to imitate the actions of poking and flicking the screen to operate a device. The bracelet would allow people to operate a TV set despite having their back turned or control a mobile phone with their hands in their pockets, The Times reported.
Microsoft has also unveiled new “interactive displays", among them a “floating display" that gives the illusion of a globe spinning or a dragon flying, just inches above a flat monitor. Cameras and motion sensors then allow people to interact with these floating objects.
Another prototype allows someone sitting in front of a large screen to see a series of cubes. They can then slip their hands behind the device in order to “touch" these objects. This device operates by surrounding a screen with cameras that can detect the user and their movements, matching them to on-screen items.
Tim Large, a researcher from Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group, said final versions of these displays will be ready in two-five years.
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