The greatest travesty ever. Remote stuck somewhere between the cushions and damn commercials start. Not again. Why flip the birdie at the television when you can use the same hand gestures for the good of the mankind? These and several other noble thoughts pervaded the minds of the Australian engineers Dr Prashan Premaratne and Quang Nguyen. So they developed a wonder box that performs any function desired of normal (read boring) remote responding to mere hand gestures.
It is like ‘I Dream of Jeannie,’ only this time it’s for real. The prototype developed by the Australian scientists lets the viewers make signals and get the desired action in a blink of an eye. Yep, the controller recognizes seven simple hand gestures and associates different actions with each one of ‘em.
Device’s working
The device has an in-built camera that makes out the hand gestures that the viewer is making and immediately performs the associated act. Thus, give the device a thumbs up and it’ll immediately oblige you by changing the channel. The only prerequisite is that the device should be located on a shelf or table which is in a clear line of sight with both the device (television, DVD player etc.) and of course the owner.
The device’s software recognizes deliberate predetermined hand motions and sends the appropriate signal to the Universal remote control. The best thing about this device is that it is designed to work with most companies’ devices. And the effect of lighting is found to be a minimum on the device’s working, as per the results of the tests published in the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Computer Vision Research Journal.
Just to make sure that those gestures that weren’t aimed at the remote aren’t responded to, Universal remote has even learnt to recognize the difference between the real commands and the unintentional ones. So while you can switch the TV off, your pet who is eager to play fetch can’t.
The device will be a heavenly present for the sloths (I’m excepting me), who think that even pushing the button of a remote is much too work. The device is expected to hit stores in three years and till then you’ll have to keep working those thumb muscles of yours.
Comments
wow, that’s a cool idea....but if there are 4 people vying each other for their favorite channel, who gets the UPPER HAND? Imagine a husband watching his fav sports channel and the wife flicks her hand to change it.....and the consequences are OMG....unimaginable!:)