Gesture control
Controlling devices with movements instead of touch. An exciting approach, to say the least. By Manuel P. Nappo, Program Director of the CAS in Social Media Management at HWZ.
Unfortunately, as is so often the case, sense and nonsense go hand in hand. The reliability and functionality of software and apps that are controlled by hand movements still leave a lot to be desired.
The "Kinect" games console is probably the best-known device at the moment when it comes to gesture control. Games can be operated and menus navigated using body movements alone. This is recorded and interpreted by a camera. Any child can do it. "Kinect" is easy to use and the movements are realistic and useful for games. What works for games consoles does not necessarily work for TV sets.
When I want to watch TV and sit on the sofa, I personally don't feel like making big movements and jumping jacks. When I recently visited an electronics store and saw a demonstration of such a device, it was clear that I would have to attend a course beforehand to be able to operate the TV. Apart from the shop assistant, nobody managed to get the waving hand gesture to react to the device.
Recently, a number of mobile apps have also come onto the market that use the camera integrated in smartphones for gesture control. It's exciting to be able to operate your smartphone in a completely new way. For example, the "Wink Camera" app, which starts the self-timer for photos with a wink. Unfortunately, you get sore muscles from winking before you can take a photo. And hand on heart, if I'm holding the camera in my hand anyway, can't I just click the shutter button with my finger?
On the other hand, I was enthusiastic about the iPad app "Gilt Taste". The cookbook app can be controlled with hand movements. So if I'm standing in the kitchen with dirty fingers, I can turn to the next page of the recipe without touching it. That would actually be very practical, but unfortunately the gesture control didn't work very well here.
Nevertheless, I believe that the possibilities for the use of gesture control are far from exhausted. However, appropriate attention should be paid to reliability and functionality.
Manuel P. Nappo, Head of Studies CAS Social Media Management HWZ (Zurich University of Applied Sciences). www.fh-hwz.ch/smm
