Touchless gesture control of smartphones and tablets became a reality yesterday following a new tie-up between a Scottish microchip manufacturer and a leading US technology company.
Edinburgh-based company Wolfson Microelectronics said the new partnership with Elliptic Labs meant ‘always on’ ultrasonic gesture control was now possible in the consumer electronics field.
The Elliptics system uses sound waves to interpret hand movements and delivers 3D gesture control with a 180-degree field of view at all sides of the device. The partnership will see Wolfson’s ultra-low power ADSP chip used alongside Elliptics technology to enable electronic devices to be ‘always on and always looking’ for gestures without significantly draining battery life.
Andy Brannan, chief commercial officer at Wolfson Microelectronics, said the potential was huge. “Along with voice control, touchless gesture control is fast becoming one of the next generation human-machine interfaces for mobile and wearable devices,” he said.
“The barrier to this new technology being more widely adopted has been power consumption.
“Wolfson removes this barrier to enable true ‘always on’ hands-free control in all situations. Elliptic Labs is at the forefront of this new technology trend, and we are delighted to work with them to port their ultrasonic touchless gesture control solution on to our ultra-low power platform.”
Elliptic CEO Laila Danielsen said the new partnership represented a breakthrough in the consumer electronics field.
“Original equipment manufacturers are keen to enable mobile devices to be ‘always on and always looking’ for hand gestures while consuming minimal power, and working alongside low power voice control.
“Our combined technology can ensure this becomes a reality for the market.”
Shares in Wolfson dipped in October after it warned over fourth-quarter revenues following a major customer’s move to cancel some products, and separate delays relating to other clients. At the time it said it expected revenues of between $40 million and $50m, but said the overall impact of the slowdown would be mitigated next year as other projects came onstream.