07-10-2016, 04:46 PM
1458273494-201508tipstergooglesolikit.pdf (Size: 52.76 KB / Downloads: 7)
Google has its eyes on a future of radar-based
technology for hand gestures with wearables, and
to a future where you can interact with wearable
technology without adding physical controls such
as buttons. Your fingers can be the buttons. Earlier
this year, Project Soli was announced as an
interaction sensor making use of radar technology.
A Google Advanced Technology and Projects
division (ATAP) video was posted on May 29
telling the world about Soli.
"My name is Ivan Poupyrev, said the technical
program lead at ATAP. Capturing the possibilities
of the human hand has been was one of his
passions, he stated. How can we apply the
capabilities to the virtual world? He said they use
radars. There's nothing to break—no lenses, no
moving parts. Ivan Poupyrev said in the video:
"Radar has been used for many things– to track
cars, big objects, satellites and planes. We're using
it to track micro motions, twitches of human hands,
and use that to interact with wearables and other
computing devices."
M Dee Dubroff, InventorSpot.com, said "Project
Soli focuses on the fact that the ability to function is
not always the job of the device but rather the
movements of the user, specifically, hands and
fingers."
She said the project relies on a tiny chip with radarlike
capabilities and it can pick up the slightest of
movements.
Alex Davies in Tom's Hardware detailed what went
on at an ATAP presentation earlier this year, when
Poupyrev showed hand gestures and how they
could be applied for interactions. Davies talked
about rubbing thumb and index finger together to
simulate turning a dial, changing time on a
simulated watch face and using distance to control
if the hours or minutes were adjusted, depending
on how far a hand was from the sensor.
Radar has some unique properties; it has very high
positional accuracy, according to the video, where
the tiniest motions can be sensed.
Jaime Lien, lead research engineer, Project Soli,
said the team's focus was taking radar hardware
and turning it into a gesture sensor.
The latest news is that Google is notifying
developers of an impending Project Soli Alpha
DevKit. Liam Spradlin wrote in Android Police that
Google was sending out applications for a small
batch of Project Soli dev kits. "According to a
tipster," said Spradlin, "Google has begun notifying
interested parties of an impending "Soli Alpha
DevKit," asking that those notified fill out an
application for the chance to receive one."
Spradlin added, "The email says that those
selected to receive a DevKit will get a development
board and SDK, along with the opportunity to
participate in a Soli Alpha developer workshop at
some point in the future."
Potential developers in return are asked to participate in the private user group, accept
software updates, and "make something really
cool."
Poupyrev had made special note in the video that
was done earlier this year that he was really looking
forward to releasing this initiative to the
development community.
According to the Android Police story this month,
though, Google noted that the DevKits were very
limited. There are only "a few dozen" to go around,
said Android Police, but the email also said the
team was working toward a beta announcement
"later this year."