Gesture Recognition System for Small Devices

A 3-D gesture recognition system is currently being developed, which uses ultrasonic sound waves to identify motion. Designed to be implanted in wearable devices, it can be used to control all sorts of consumer electronics, but particularly those with small screens (like watches) or those that would be inconvenient to access with your hands (such as Google Glasses).

It works by sending ultrasonic pulses outward from an array of transducers built into the device to be controlled. As they echo off of objects in their path, the time it takes to return can be measured electronically, and those measurements can be translated into distinct hand gestures.

The current chips are about 5mm square, but could be made half that size. The system can be used in darkness as well as bright light at distances up to a meter. And since sound travels at a relatively slow speed, the associated electronics can be operated at low-speed, lowering power consumption levels to the point where the technology could run continuously off a tiny watch battery for 30 hours.

The developers envision establishing a standard set of hand commands that would be pre-programmed into Chirp-enabled devices. For example, you could pass your finger over your smart phone to flip through a photo gallery without touching the screen, then zoom out of a photo by pulling your hand away.