It looks as though Leap Motion is expanding beyond its partnership with Asus as HP is announcing it will not only be bundling the Leap Motion controller, but also integrating its motion control experience into a number of HP’s upcoming products.
The partnership between Leap Motion and HP will start by bundling the Leap Motion controller with select HP personal computers this summer, with a natural progression to HP devices being equipped with Leap Motion’s technology. In addition to the hardware, Leap Motion’s Airspace application will come pre-loaded on Leap Motion-integrated HP devices, which the company hopes will give developers a better opportunity to reach a much more global audience (more…)
Leap Motion isn’t just going to be a stand-alone product. The motion-control brand just announced a partnership with HP, meaning that, sometime this summer, you’ll be seeing several HP devices with Leap Motion technology bundled right in. More »
When you think amazing, HP isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Or even the second. Or, frankly, the third. But a little bit of Minority Report-style UI might change that.
Leap Motion hasn’t even launched its first product yet (the first devices ship May 13), and already the company is on a roll. Now, it’s announcing a collaboration with HP, to bring its brand of 3D motion control to that company’s devices, first via bundling the Leap Motion Controller with select HP computers, and then later by hardware integration that embeds Leap tech right into HP gadgets themselves.
Embedding is a major step for Leap Motion, since it means users eventually will be able to access all of the company’s 3D motion control features without needing any kind of peripheral. Leap Motion co-founder and CEO Michael Buckwald explained in an interview that the functionality of Leap, whether embedded or standalone, should be exactly the same when it does eventually arrive, although this partnership with HP, the first such arrangement with an OEM PC manufacturer, is still at a very early stage. This first outing of embedding capabilities for Leap is big news for the company, however, even if shipping devices are still a ways off.
“It’s exciting for us on two levels. One, it’s a strong validation of confidence in leap from a technical point of view, as well as validation that it can be embedded in consumer devices,” Buckwald said. “The other is that it means a lot to our developer ecosystem as well. Yes, we’re talking about embedding the motion-sensing part of the technology, but we’re also talking about embedding Airspace, the Leap developer ecosystem.”
HP computers that are Leap Motion-enabled will come with Airspace, Lesp’s application store for Leap Motion-compatible titles, pre-loaded. That’s a huge advantage for Leap and its developers in terms of discoverability, and making sure that customers are exposed to software built for Leap Motion in the first place. Apps for Leap Motion are an integral part of the launch and platform strategy, since without software to use with the unique and impressive hardware, it’s unlikely that anyone will stick with the device long-term.
The company’s ability to impress big name partners early and often is also a very good sign for Leap Motion’s potential sustainability. It has already signed up Asus as a partner, too, and the company will ship some of its computers bundled with Leap Motion controllers. Retail partner Best Buy will also be doing endcap displays, meaning users will be able to try out the new technology for themselves, which is a huge boon in terms of convincing people it’s something worthwhile.
This new HP deal is just the start for Leap in terms of its embedded tech opportunities. Buckwald says that while the final design of a Leap Motion-enabled device hasn’t been defined yet, it could work either with placement above a display like most current webcams are positioned, or below, as it’s placed with the current standalone Leap hardware. He also said that mobile device integration is definitely something else coming down the line.
“Mobile will definitely be a part of our strategy in the future,” Buckwald said. “Tablets and phones are a great example of a use case where there’s a major benefit to the consumer to embed Leap. Anywhere we think we can provide value, we’re interested in eventually embedding in there.”
For Leap, the challenge however is less about identifying ways it could benefit users, and more about staying focused and being diligent in keeping its aspirations within the grasp of its small team of staff, he said. Embedding the tech is a huge step, and one that could position Leap as a new staple tech for inclusion in the computing products of third-party OEMs, so keeping the company’s eyes on that prize is the current priority.
Leap Motion is shaping up to be 2013’s hottest peripheral. Less than a year after the gesture-control technology was first announced, the company’s enlisted tens of thousands of developers in its motion-controlled ranks, partnered with ASUS and taken SXSW Interactive by storm. This morning, the company added another big win to the ever-growing list: a partnership with HP, which will eventually see the technology embedded in some new offerings from the PC veteran. According to a press release issued by the startup, “The relationship will start with the Leap Motion Controller bundled with select HP products and evolve to unique HP devices embedded with Leap Motion’s technology.” Those unnamed devices will also be loaded with Leap’s Airspace, for easy access to custom apps.
When it comes to developing music apps, Leap Motion’s naturalistic interface seems like a no-brainer. Sure it doesn’t offer the sort of tactile feedback you get from an actual instrument, but it certainly beats the heck out of, say, a keyboard and mouse. Adam Somers is among the early developers looking to bring a little bit of music magic to the tiny peripheral, and he gave us a sneak peak of what he’s working on at a Smule event in San Francisco earlier this week.
The simpler of the two apps is AirHarp. Still in early developer preview mode, the program is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a virtual harp. Hold your hand out and strings light up — tap down and you can pluck them. Reach in a bit and you can strum with one or several fingers. More impressive is AirBeats, a virtual machine with two pads and a slew of sounds that lets you record tracks. Somers is hoping to have at least one of the apps out in time for Leap Motion’s upcoming launch. You can check out demos after the break.
The Leap Motion hacks just keep coming. The motion-controlled gadget still hasn’t hit our shelves, but eager engineers are already hooking their developer kits up to all the electronics they own. More »
The Duo is a 3D motion sensing controller, much like the Leap Motion Controller and the Kinect – but with a DIY twist. Whereas the Leap Motion Controller comes in a small and elegant package, the Duo is meant to be tinkered with.
A $20 contribution on their Kickstarter page is enough to nab detailed instructions, a comprehensive list of the off-the-shelf components, and CAD files – enough for hardcore DIYers to jump right in and assemble their very own motion controller. For the less courageous, a $140 contribution will get you a fully assembled Duo, ready for plug and play out of the box.
The Duo uses two PlayStation Eye cameras (a webcam for Sony’s PS3 gaming console that is readily available in stores) to detect motion. The demo videos on Duo’s website show that the webcams, coupled with Duo’s motion tracking software, work just a well as the Leap Motion Controller. The minimum operating range seems to be further away than the Leap, although that’s purely based on observation and I couldn’t find any concrete specs on their website. The video also shows the Duo breezing through Windows 8’s gesture based interface, just as you would with a Kinect. And of course, the Duo passed the prerequisite Fruit Ninja test with flying colors.
Given that the Leap Motion Controller will soon be hitting retail stores for $79.99, it’s true that you’re paying a premium for a device that has pretty much the same functionality. Motion sensing technology is red-hot and there are plenty of otherprojects we’ve chronicled that are also worthy of your attention. If anything, the one thing that Duo has going for it is that you can take it apart and mod it to your heart’s content. If you’re willing to pay a premium for that ability alone, you can check out Duo’s Kickstarter page here.
CamBoard Pico is German firm pmdtec’s next-generation gesture input reference device. We showed you before what it could potentially do to change the computer interface, and now there are a couple of new videos from the company showing how it’s working with middleware makers and what it can truly accomplish in practice in actual shipping products.
The gesture detection in these videos is impressive, and shows a solution that’s not only small enough to be incorporated into devices like notebooks, but also works at a sufficient distance that it’s actually usable, accurately, when you’re up close and working with said devices as you would normally.
Individual finger detection and the ability to use the CamBoard Pico tech to accomplish simple, practical things like switching between open apps. Unlike Kinect, it looks like you can use the CamBoard pico even from your standard typing position on a notebook computer, just by raising a finger while typing. That’s much, much more useful than gesture tech that requires a user to adjust themselves back from the screen, or even worse, stand up to interact with a computer, and much more likely to gain wide adoption, rather than acting as a sort of novelty.
The second demo video, which shows pmdtec working with Metrilus middleware, demonstrates more the general gesture sort of control we’ve come to expect from Kinect and similar technologies, but again, the distance and flexibility are impressive. I’m excited to see what the forthcoming Leap Motion controller can accomplish when it ships later this year (it seems to offer similar functionality and working distance), but pmdtec’s goals and sales strategy are very different.
It’s targeting original design manufacturers (ODMs), who in term will sell through to OEMs. That means that together with its middleware partners, pmdtec can sell these things directly to computer manufacturers, meaning when you buy a future Acer, Asus or Sony laptop, it’ll come with accurate gesture recognition tech onboard if this product catches on. With these new practical demonstrations of how that might be of use even with current operating systems and interfaces, that’s a pretty exciting prospect.
For those who have attended South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) at Texas, if you happened to chance upon the Leap Motion team, you would have more or less been given the opportunity to give the upcoming gesture-based controller a go. Those who have tried it have definitely walked away with nothing but bouquets, after all, it was a chance to experience the technology for themselves and use it with existing apps.
Vice President of Product Marketing Michael Zagorsek did hold a short demonstration of a 3D visualizer which allowed developers to understand the controller’s capabilities, followed by giving Fruit Ninja a go with a chopstick (a cleaver would have been the better choice, albeit a more dangerous one), while creatively using the controller to sculpt a “piece” of digital clay too, now how about that? Leap Motion has big plans for their product, with shipping commencing to pre-order customers this May 13th, while stores will sell them slightly more than a week later. Just how much “unlearning” will one have to do with Leap Motion’s innovation?
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For those who have attended South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) at Texas, if you happened to chance upon the Leap Motion team, you would have more or less been given the opportunity to give the upcoming gesture-based controller a go. Those who have tried it have definitely walked away with nothing but bouquets, after all, it was a chance to experience the technology for themselves and use it with existing apps.