We mentioned the other day of Google’s April Fools joke wherein they used hand gestures and physical movements to create gesture-based Gmail platform. While this remained as a techie joke, the guys in the ICT MxR Lab were daring and brilliant enough to make the Google Motion proof-of-concept into reality. The project is entitled, the SLOOW or the Software Library Optimizing Obligatory Waving. The team used the Kinect in order to detect the user’s gesture commands. Sending, composing and selecting emails can now be done using a series of popular gestures. Â While the concept itself may not be as feasible as it was originally a joke and even the guys in the ICT thinks its silly, this development just goes to show what the Kinect can do in order to make fictional technology, a reality. Who knows, we might see Google integrate such technology in order to provide email features to the illiterate and even add ease of access to multiple Google programs.
Here is description from the ICT developers:
“This morning, Google introduced Gmail Motion, allowing users to control Gmail using gestures and body movement. However, for whatever reason, their application doesn’t appear to work. So, we demonstrate our solution – the Software Library Optimizing Obligatory Waving (SLOOW) – and show how it can be used with a Microsoft Kinect sensor to control Gmail using the gestures described by Google.”
For more information about the SLOOW, visit the program’s Youtube Page.
