Muscle Sensing NUI Input

Microsoft Research and the University of Washington teamed up to create a new input devices for Natural User Interfaces, the armband. The armband is an Electromyography (EMG) device which detects electrical signals from your forearm muscles as you move your fingers and press against objects. The video below provides a good explanation.

The band pictured left isn't the one developed by the researchers, its the Nike iPod Armband, but future versions of the research project could have applications in controlling devices like the iPod. In the video a jogger changes tracks on his iPod by simply touching his index finger and thumb together. Boy would I love to have that when running.

A while back I wrote about the power of combining control gloves with augmented reality glasses. I like this combination because it gives you the ability to interact with personal devices and your environment without having to be in a controlled environment, as is the case with Project Natal.

The thing I didn't like about the combination was the gloves and to a lesser extent the glasses. Who wants to walk around wearing a pair of gloves all the time? The armband developed by Microsoft and University of Washington can be worn under your cloths just below the elbow, so it can be hidden under cloths. It could also be decorative like jewelry. Imagine your iPod encased in decorative armbands: you could look like Space Ghost, a Roman gladiator or an Egyptian goddess.

In their research paper they talk about using EMG with a Microsoft Surface, which is mildly interesting but the bigger application is the ability to control devices with free-form gestures. The research paper makes it clear that there is a lot more work to be done, but this technology is only about five years away from having real commercial applications which makes it exciting.