By Luke Johnson.
"For those iPad users out there fed up with cleaning greasy fingerprints of their beloved tablet compter, help may be at hand in the form of a new Kinect-style motion control."
Kinect-esque motion control could soon find its way to the iPad as tech firm Elliptic Labs prepares to show off its Touchless Gesture User Interface technology at CES 2011.
Having teased similar technologies for some time and demoed an unbranded device at IFA earlier this year, Elliptic Labs now appears ready to officially out its motion-sensing iPad dock prototype that will allow users to control their tablets without tarnishing the device with fingerprints.
Made possible by ultrasound technologies that create a 35cm “touchless zone” field around the connected device, the dock prototype will allow users to control their devices through a variety of gesticulation controls such as side-to-side and up-and-down motions, all of which are speed variable.
Speaking on the upcoming device Elliptic Labs CEO Stian Aldrin said: "The idea is that you use touchless gestures to operate primary functions of a docked tablet in situations like when you have wet or greasy hands in the kitchen.”
He added: "In general tablets are made for being handheld. When it is docked you are often walking or standing further away, and then using a finger on the screen involves a change of modality. Rather than bending down, leaning forward or picking it up you can use larger movements a little bit further away to do things like volume up or next song without changing modality."
