Google one step closer to bringing hand gesture control to the world

While touch screens and voice control are exciting way for us to interact with technology, we will only know that we have really arrived in the future when we can get to interact with our devices using merely hand gestures. Much like beloved sci-fi films like Minority Report have their characters interacting with screens and interfaces using their hands, it looks like some new Google technology might be on the cusp of making this type of interaction a reality and making us all feel like we have the force when it comes to getting our technology to do our bidding.

Titled Project Soli, Google has been working on the technology for several years ever since they won U.S. government approval to continue work on a successful radar project they carried out back in 2015. Since then, they have been trying to make use of gestures like rubbing your thumb and index finger together to control a smartwatch or smart speaker (or the world’s tiniest violin). Unlike other technologies which make use of cameras to read these gestures, Google wanted to do so without the need for cameras – which required them to keep playing in the radar field.

However one of the things holding the project back was that they needed their radar technology to operate at a slightly higher power level than was allowed. Something which they have finally been granted meaning that Google can further the development of their Soli project and one day allow us to control things just by waving our hands like Obi-Wan Kenobi . Because apparently swiping at a screen of a smartwatch or turning a speaker on via a remote is just too trouble much for some people.

Last Updated: January 7, 2019