Will the Leap Motion Controller change how we use computers?
Will the Leap Motion Controller change how we use
computers?
The new gadget will let you interact with your computer using gestures – does that mean Minority Report has finally arrived?
The Leap Motion computer controller … the beginning of a revolution? Photograph: AP
When John Underkoffler was designing the interface for the film Minority Report, Steven Spielberg told him it should look like the characters were "conducting an orchestra". Now that's a beautiful vision. The gestural control of the future should not be tiring or bothersome, but elegant and accurate.
As of this week Minority Report has arrived. Or you can pretend to be Iron Man's alter-ego Tony Stark (but sadly without the ability to control multimillion-dollar robots and body armour). Pre-orders of the Leap Motion Controller – which was privately funded and allows you to control your computer using gestures in the air, within a volume of eight cubic feet – are slowly being delivered in the US, and as of Monday it is available in Britain on Amazon.
If you've used a device with a screen in the last few years you'll have noticed that almost everything you click or tap seems to have a conspicuous reaction, something I'm fairly sure we're getting more than a little tired of. Blame the movies – everything has a licence to beep and jiggle in Tony Stark's garage. With the advent of Leap, designers and developers have been forced to return to a simpler time; where that mandatory jiggle and bounce has been toned down in order for users to grapple with a new "interaction paradigm".
The first step with all new technologies is usually the shonkiest; the tech is still very much prototypical. Good enough to spin a sphere, but perhaps not yet to control your diary.
The era of gesture control that will be enabled by Leap tech, and what comes after it, will yield more useful interactions. Siriand, more recently, the successful integration of Voice Search in Google products, are preparing us for the next step in interaction development. As with voice recognition, we should prime ourselves for the inevitable growing pains. Further configurations of these technologies will gradually embed themselves in our lives. But at what price?
• This article was amended on 29 July 2013. The original version said that Leap was funded by Kickstarter investors. This has now been corrected.
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