Panasonic 3D Image Sensor Enables Gesture Control

Consumers and hardware developers alike dream that a time will come when simple gestures or voice commands will be all that is required to interact with computers and virtually any other kind of electronic. At present, one could say that humanity is in the touch stage, where direct contact with screens and touchpads let end-users get up close and personal with their systems. For those that look forward to the future, however, things may seems to be progressing too slowly.

Whether this is the reason or not, Panasonic Electric Works has gone ahead and designed a 3D sensor capable of precise motion capture of spatial objects with wide field of view. This is achieved thanks to the ability of the D-IMager (as it is called) to process high-precision (pixel by pixel) data. Designed to look both robust and stylish, it should blend in nicely with any TV and can resolve 160 x 120 pixels at 20 or 30 frames per second. It even connects via the USB 2.0 interface, which practically makes it compatible with most video output devices and PCs on the market.

"We strongly believe that 3D sensing is the key to develop a new way of daily life interaction in the future," says Ken Omori, General Manager at Panasonic Electric Works. "Our technology has the highest performance commercially available for volume production and we are confident in our capacity to help create new gesture controlled systems on a large scale starting now."

The D-IMager is meant to be used in a range of imaging technologies for gesture controlled applications. The markets that would benefit from such products include out-of-home entertainment, immersive multimedia, interactive digital signage and video arcade games. Finally, though the price was not included in the official announcement, the device is supposedly already selling worldwide, with future models in development.