This year’s (2012) MWC had some interesting innovations with new and upcoming mobile technology. There were even some new takes on old tech with a partnership between EPOS (software-based input solutions) and Texas Instruments. Their collaboration has taken the stylus to a new level with the inclusion of ultrasound. The ultrasonic stylus uses a sound-based transmitter housed inside the pen that sends out a unique high-pitched sound wave (too high for humans to hear) that’s picked up by a receiver.
The receiver, which uses a series of microphones positioned on the device being used, triangulates the position and distance of the stylus on three axis. That’s XY and Z, which gives the ultrasonic stylus a 3D environment to move in by simply moving closer or away from the device thanks to TI’s OMAP 5 ARM Cortex-A15 platform. There is no word yet on when the stylus will be released as TI has yet to find a manufacturer. The interface fun doesn’t stop there though, as the Israeli-based company Extreme Reality (XTR3D) has designed a new hands-free gestural system (with help from ShiVa3D software from the French company Stonetrip) for phones, tablets, laptops and TV’s. The XTR3D motion capture software enables any device with a front-facing 2D camera the ability to be gestural-controlled in a 3D environment with a distance of up to 17 feet away regardless of the operating system being used. The XTR3D SDK is available for developers so expect to see apps as well as games coming sometime later this year.
EPOS is about to make a troublesome world for animals, bathing the planet in ultrasonic sound. (Also, I do not believe that it will work as effortlessly as the video, only time will tell.)
Eavesdropper