Tom Cruises Minority Report Like Technology Could Have Arrived Sooner Than Expected

Admin 26-May-2016 16:37:29 Inothernews

Tom Cruises Minority Report Like Technology Could Have Arrived Sooner Than Expected


The gesture-tracking technology used by Tom Cruise's pre-crime fighting police officer in Minority Report, the sci-fi movie set in 2054, has arrived a few years early. Tiny radar chips by Infineon Technologies AG paired with algorithms by Alphabet's Google help devices detect the finest gestures from several meters away, the German chipmaker says.



The first gadgets to use the so-called Soli technology, presented at Google I/O event on Friday, are prototypes of an LG Electronics smartwatch and a Harman Kardon loudspeaker. While coarser gesture detection has been around for a bit, for example in gaming consoles such as Wii, the new chips are more precise.

They can detect fine hand movements, like twisting your thumb and index finger when winding a watch from several feet away, said Andreas Urschitz, head of Infineon's power management division.

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"This tech will revolutionize human-machine interaction far beyond the touchscreen of smartphones and even voice recognition," Urschitz said. "Since mankind started using tools 2.4 million years ago, this is the first time tools adapt to the user instead of the other way around."

Infineon, which is teaming with Google to sell its chips paired with the US company's software from mid 2017, expects the tech to provide new user experiences and inspire new devices, like the iPhone did with touchscreen technology.

Paired with the right software, the radar chips are able to recognise people when they enter a room, detect finger and hand movements up to 15 feet away, and help workers steer machines and tools as industries digitise their factories, Urschitz says.

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