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Tech

The Interface Design Technology That Can Make Google Glass iPad-Like: Depth Cameras

By Rain Noe - August 5, 2013

It's very strange that Google Glass is not mentioned once in this news segment. Researchers at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) have developed this eyeglass-based display, below, that uses images projected onto the lenses, and depth cameras focusing beyond the lenses, to create the functional illusion of operating a "floating touchscreen":

ITRI is simply the latest research group to use depth cameras to track our fingers, which then triggers a microprocessor to recognize that as an actionable "touch." Most recently we saw this with Fujitsu Labs' FingerLink Interaction System. So you might wonder why we're looking at this—isn't this just a combination of existing technologies that we've all seen before? It is, but so was the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad when they first came out. What is significant here, from an interface design perspective, is the likelihood that in the future we'll use the touch interface—without actually needing touch-enabled glass screens. It's strange to think that the touchscreen technology behind the iDevices, which seemed so groundbreaking when they first came out, might actually be a short-lived one; historically the touchscreen may be seen as simply the "gateway drug," in a manner of speaking, that gets us hooked on this form of interaction before depth cameras take over and we no longer need a physical surface.

At a minimum, once the resolution and accuracy issues are worked out, and the depth cameras are further miniaturized, the technology could yield unlimited-screen-size iPads--that don't actually exist, of course. But as long as our eyes think they exist, that will be all that matters.

Tech
UX

Rain Noe

Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.

3 Comments

Paul

6 years ago

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Sure... If voice control is the only other option. But I don't think these glasses will be able to take the place of smartphones until a UI is developed that doesn't require voice control or pointing 40 inches in front of your face. I'd like to see these things recognize eye movement to the point of being able to control them with just that
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davi

6 years ago

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i completely disagree with you paul. whats more alienating in the real world? speaking your every thought, search, measage, email into your hud glasses for the world to hear as well.... or using a projected keyboard interface for all of that input a mere few inches in front of your face that only you can see. i would take use this concept of tech ANY DAY over voice control....
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Paul DuFour

6 years ago

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Nobody wants to look like they're aimlessly pointing at nothing 40 inches in front of their face. The real groundbreaker will be when we can control the entire interface with our eyes.
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