Deep Ocean to Deep Space

Leap Motion controler September 13, 2013

I admire the ingenuity and savviness of the two inventors David Holtz and Michael Buckwald and what they have done to create a new device from off the shelf components and some very not off the shelf math. Very efficient math. I was all set to get one as soon as it was announced but held off not know if I would have the time to play with it. They received a warm welcome at SXSW 2013 from what I hear, and there are many apparently coming up with apps for it. But the reviews I read online are not that great. So what do you do with it? Its billed as a new GUI to replace our rather klutzy keyboard and mouse interfaces. I would love to have something better for doing drawings. I have been drawing and sketching for my whole life but started using what is now called CAD before it was called CAD. But oh, how painful not to be able to just touch the screen to add and move lines.

I can’t quite imagine moving objects around, and giving commands just be waving my hands in the air. What is the paradigm for that? Maybe a conductor or a traffic copy or an airliner parker does that, and some people talk with there hands, but in general we touch something, have tactile feedback. So I think my desire for easier CAD has already been solved with touch sensitive tablets.

One use might be to control robots. Be can you imagine what happens when the person gets frustrated and throws up their hands? Perhaps if the robot is intelligent enough to realize, “Oh, you are upset with me. How can I do better?”