New-Tech Europe Magazine | Feb 2017

Sensors Special Edition

Augmenting Touchless Gesture Recognition with Haptic Feedback

Vicky Messer, Ultrahaptics

Touchless gesture recognition is widely acknowledged as the next frontier in the development of humanmachine interfaces and the technology is now beginning to move beyond computer and gaming markets to include consumer and domestic appliances as well as automotive dashboards. However, it is commonly found that touchless controls can lack the precision and tactile feedback that is so valuable to humans to confirm they are properly controlling the system. Vicky Messer, Technical Marketing Manager at Ultrahaptics looks at the market and advocates touchless or mid- air haptic feedback as the next

key step for the development of the technology. Ever since the development of the trackball in the 1940s and the consumer release of the computer mouse in the 1980s, engineers have sought to push the limitations of computer-human interaction in an attempt to achieve a more intuitive and natural user experience. An obvious avenue to explore has been the gestures used in face-to-face communications, and the market has come a long way especially when considering developments in sophisticated audio and visual capabilities. The importance of the human sense of touch has also been championed with haptic feedback added to many consumer devices. Traditionally, however, the two

markets have been distinct entities. According to market analyst firm GIA, the global market for gesture recognition will exceed $12.7 billion in 2020, driven by expanding applications in gaming, healthcare, automation, consumer electronics and automotive sectors. Consumer electronics (including gaming) currently accounts for approximately 99% of the gesture recognition market. A second report predicts the market for both gesture recognition and touchless sensing technologies will have a CAGR of 28% over the next few years and is predicted to be worth $24 billion worldwide by 2020. Touching and Touchless Controlling devices with human

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