Microsoft working on a wearable Kinect for hand & finger tracking 'Digits'

Freehand 3D Computer Interaction Without Gloves

"Digits, a wrist-worn gloveless sensor developed by Microsoft Research in Cambridge, U.K., enables 3-D computer interaction in any environment and is practical beyond computer gaming."

This will pretty much be a wearable Kinect for your wrist to track your hands in 3D with finger tracking for 1:1 computer interaction without gloves or anything in your hands like the PlayStation Move or Wiimote.

[LX-General-Kaos]

With unique innovation comes great reward

I respect Microsoft for creating their own path.

[rezzah]

Yea, their new take on how games can be played will be amazing.

I think it will be the next generation of what a FPS can be.

[MikeMyers]

Maybe I'm watching too much baseball right now but my first thought was the Catcher and Pitcher giving hand signals in future games.

[deadpoole]

This is an amazing innovation ... but the thing I don't understand is why the heck MS is still using cameras for reading movements. Everybody knows that by the time image captured to translated to processed to display resultant action on screen ... the lag will be soooooo immense that you wouldn't be able to play or use these devices for anything. Kinect is a prime example of that.

What MS needs is a raw capture of signals and transmission of those signals to contraption for reaction to action made by participant.

All these camera capture devices in my point of view are lost cause and just complete waste of time and money.

Analogy will explain ... tryin to make gas fuel consumption by engine more efficient so less CO2 is emitted in air is complete waste of time and money (this is what Kinect and similar devices does) ... when car running on water or electric kills CO2 emission problem from root (What MS should be lookin in tech wise).

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

"With unique innovation comes great reward "

Yeah from the casual market. Are you new to MS?

But I am sure their dashboard 720 showing will be interesting.

It's basically like this but will be more expensive.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

$70 btw.

[dboyc310]

This all sounds good on paper and I respect them for trying to grasp what many envision the future of gaming to be. However i'll just wait and see how this ends up. Let's remember how Kinect was advertise and no way has it resembled what we saw in the commercials. But nonetheless I'm really excited to see what microsoft is making.

[nukeitall]

That is pretty cool!

One day it might just get rid of the mouse.

[Just_The_Truth]

I think this, kinect, wii and move have great application but gaming isn't one of them. If you look at the quality of games these motion controllers put out is bad. Although the move and wii have buttons which makes them slightly better in gaming. I think the wii/ps vita route is the future. I remember milo and the kinect hype but nothing has come from it same with the move. They dropped both very quickly and devs didn't support them. If Sony can utilize the ps vita as a controller for the ps3 and implicate it into AAA games it could easily over take the wiiU simply because the psv trumps the wiiu controller in every way. Hope both do well tho and we can forget these motion controls.

[Shadonic]

it mostely depends upon the route that the developers of the project take for MS instead of embracing the hacking market that have been the main source of all the things hardcore gamers wanted they decided to go in a different route with the kinect fun labs thing something marketed as a place for said hackers but is only uploaded with applications made by microsoft. It saddens me that sony and ms havent pushed there devices in the right direction becuase i would love play games ina new and unique way I mean up to 30-40 plus years with controllers ? it dosent have to go away we just need something new to spice up the experiences we have.

[Bigpappy]

I read all the negative responses below and just go "wow, how could people hate tech research". It is not like this is some game, it is a tech demo shown finger detection.

It seems like the hate is just because it is done by M$ and they are the enemy. Its not all about gaming fellas.

[BitbyDeath]

Hope that works out for them.
It'll be better than a Wii mote or Move if it all works properly.

[zebramocha]

@bit How is that going to be better than ps move? Move is a physical controller so it has the ability to work with a variety of games were kinect and it's derivatives are suited to just casual games.

[BitbyDeath]

True, certain games where you aren't meant to be holding things in your hands would feel more natural though. Like Fitness games. I can't think of many examples but it would be great if they allowed a mix of both instead of one or the other.

[Dovahkiin]

I welcome any new technology regarding accurate motion controls, key word being accurate.

[ChunkyLover53]

The tech right now is so much better than the current Kinect, so I welcome it if its accurate and it stays as only an option.

[Yangus]

Next-box technology 90%.

[JellyJelly]

Cool! Obviously this was an early prototype but I wish they evolve it and incorporate it into gaming in the future.

[Locksus]

Cool! If it's done right it could possibly be pretty awesome!

[TopDudeMan]

It seems interesting, but not something I'd be into.

[MunkyHero]

Microsoft makes this...
and one man does this...
https://leapmotion.com/
i think its clear which is doing better...

[JBSleek]

Why so serious?

[Shadonic]

i have to kind of agree and disagree i mean this is like test footage were seeing and the range in which the devices could be used like for MS's we still hav eyet to see the VR glasses there rumored to be working on apply that to these spiderman style devices plus in the open world it would be like those vr glasses from heavy rain basically with added wrist watches. But still i have to agree with you on how much Ms is kind of failing with being a bit to slow to get to things.

[from the beach]

Coolest thing.

Hopefully it's not too much longer before the next Xbox and Kinect are unveiled.

[Haha123]

Be interesting if Xbox 720 came with one of these and a controller

[Veni Vidi Vici]

No it wouldn't. It'd be a waste of money. I'd rather they make a better controller (with a trackball, for example) than force me to spend extra money to include this thing that will only be supported by a handful of games that will all be catered to the casual segment.

[Trago1337]

not bad Microsoft.

[Sketchy_Galore]

Maybe I'm getting a little too sci-fi here but wouldn't gloves be better? I could imagine a glove with joints that tensed up or at least small pads that vibrate when your in game hand comes into contact with an object. This looks cool though so maybe I'm just being nitpicky.

The big problem with these new control schemes is that they never include a decent way to move your character and so always wind up being used for shallow on rails games.

[Veni Vidi Vici]

I think your idea is better than this thing. With a glove that could sense joint movement or tension, there wouldn't me much lag at all- if any. You can see the lag with this thing in the video. There's already way too much lag with the Kinect. Why add more lag on your hand with a clunky camera that will get caught on things and break. A glove would be much more durable, responsive, and accurate.

And yes, MS seems dedicated to proving everyone wrong about needing SOME buttons or joystick. I just don't get why they're being so stubborn about it.

[Veni Vidi Vici]

Sorry MS. You have to have some buttons and a thumbstick somewhere. I know you want to get rid of the controller but you're going to need it for hardcore games. If you want to keep catering to the casual gamers then by all means, keep making this kind of hardware.

[Dlacy13g]

I love seeing companies looking to expand on tech in this area but I do want to have tech more fleshed out than what we saw with Kinect. I just feel it was a bit cart before the horse.

As for this wrist tech... cool, but that form factor needs to be drastically improved upon. I know its prototype but dang it looks a bit bulky on the wrist.

[kingPoS]

Science fiction + a few more years years? = science fact.

The modern power glove (sorta)

I don't see traditional controllers will be going away any time soon. Fighters, platformers, ect still use gamepads.

[isarai]

Didn't they claim the Kinect was suppose to do this from the start?

[Shadonic]

I remeber a hack for kinect where a guy used basic finger recognition this one seems better. design needs to be more compact

[StrawHatPatriot]

Not trying to hate, but many of the gestures in that video are reminiscent/of equal value to what the NES Power Glove gave us. The only difference is that it can work on multiple devices, and you don't need a glove.

It isn't good to be reminiscent, of the Power Glove.

[edonus]

Powerglove didnt finger track. The only sensor on the Powerglove was the one on the top of your hand. It was equivalent to strapping a Wii mote on your fist.

[edonus]

MS is really pushing things. This has way more applications than just gaming just like kinect. I cant wait until all this cool stuff or available.

This in conjunction with kinect would amazing. Kinect is a very solid base to develop from. They have only scratched the surface with kinect and are already expanding it.

[Plagasx]

Fuck Kinect and fuck motion control.

[CPTN MITCHELL]

Powerglove rebirth.......get real ms....3,2,1 and The disagree begin,don't care cause is The truth

[zero_cool]

Agreed!

Cheers Gamers & Happy Gaming!

Related image(s)