Leap Motion uses the Force to control your Virtual Augmented Reality and beyond!

Want to manipulate and view a 3D virtual and augmented reality display with the power of your hands, a finger or a chopstick? You are going to sooner than you think for the field of VR and AR science has just surpassed the science fiction made famous by the likes of Spieldberg's bleak and dreary Tom fest Minority Report.. 

Minority Report is a film memorable only for that one scene where our anti hero is using those gloves to control that display. In 2012 we are not only more or less are on our way to having the wall sized display sorted , the science has surpassed the science fiction  right now we do not even need a wall to display a wall sized display ! For we have in the form of the smd ST1080 a 180g wearable virtual and augmented reality display bigger than the one Maverick is using in Minority Report ...or his ego in Top Gun and in actual size not much bigger than his Raybans ...somebody stop me...

Currently I am controlling whatever I throw up on that display using traditional mouse, keyboard, joypad controls,thinking of Kinect,IR,Move and other inputs. Reaching down for the input method the complete VR or AR experience is just not happening..

Then I  Google+d on Leap Motion and this 

What you are looking at here is someone controlling a traditional 2D monitor set up, but we now have 3D 1080p hmds like the ST1080, imagine wearing your display and exploiting all  control options and possibilities that the Leap Motion brings to a head mounted display user . The Leap can see down to your individual finger or tip of a pencil level using this in conjunction with head mounted displays like the ST1080 is going to be an obsession for me in the next few months. I can approximate control like this with kinect at the moment the level of control shown on display here hooked up to Windows 8 streaming to a tablet like the new iPad linked wireless through Apple TV to the transparent ST1080 which  is just 180g, portable, powered by USB and you have your perfect wearable augmented and virtual reality computer ... Philip K Dick would be proud and this is a point where the science actually surpasses science fiction in our life times. Nerdvana has been attained.... 

On the ST1080 controlled with the Leap you could actually manipulate objects in augmented reality thanks to the transparent display , you could also beam the image from the camera of your phone or tablet , so if you are using LAYAR or Google Goggles or other AR apps you can now manipulate them on your ST1080 only now with the magic of your hands or even favourite Harry Potter wand or chop stick : Lost  in New York you could impose an augmented 3D image or map of the City and move in it virtually whilst you were you were moving in it actuality ..Look for shops , look for face book friends , find the place where you are meeting and watch in 3d as they close in on your location..  I could do this now wearing the ST1080 but I have no way to control the display on the move , i do if I have the leap connected to my Raspberry Pi or Windows 8 tablet in my pocket or backpack ... 

Then consider that the portable head mounted display, the ST1080 is a 1080p 3D display and paired with the Leap, with Tridef 3D turning your experience into 3D, you just got your first 3D virtual reality and augmented reality world that you can manipulate with your hands or a light sabre if you have one lying around ... That 3D world that you can now manipulate of course could be occupied by anything, 3D games and sports, 3D work, CAD ,modelling , design and of course the obvious which I do not need to mention... 3D google maps ..what ? what did you think I meant .. 

Right now videos only exist showing the Leap controlling 2d displays , but I have several 3D hmds that are dying to be paired up with the Leap , so I have written to the makers of Leap Motion and pre-ordered one too and as soon as I get hold of a developer or retail version I will be throwing up videos and reviews of usage scenarios and the endless possibilities a control unit like the Leap Motion brings..

By the time the Leap Motion hits retail in Feb 2013 , the hmd will have evolved to have a 4K resolution, a 4k resolution 180g wearable portable display that you control with air ... Just make sure you get your eyes in shape. 

The possibilities for an Obama fly swatting, or Miyagi San chopstick fly catching games are endless just remember not to take out your screen or the person in front of you if you are wearing a hmd ... 

And how ...how could I not mention the Force .. the force lightning ,grip, Jar Jar slapping possibilities too are endless and totally independent of your Midichlorian count... mesa   Jedi now too massa Anniiiee.... For Sith George WHY?

Like I said this is way beyond Minority Report,a little ahead of Johny Mnemonic and even the legendary AR VR sequence in that great Michael Douglas /Chricton/Demi Moore sci fi epic Disclosure ... truly a point where science is about to outpace science fiction... finally ..again..maybe.

The natural user interface is evolving alongside the hmd and the touch and gesture based OS that is Windows 8 and tablet/phone operating systems, so we are at the most exciting point for developers in a long time the true potential of this device lies not just in manipulating virtual clay and molecules but in the community of developers that Leap Motion is building which will throw up usage scenarios the designers never thought of, Jar Jar Slapping and Obama-swat-a-fly are just my initial contributions...

More to follow when and if Leap Motion get back to me... All in all 2013 with the arrival of Windows 8, 4k hmds like the successor to the ST1080, (the ongoing review for which you can check to the right of this ), Project Glass and the likes of the Oculus Rift is going to mark the birth of the cyberpunk for real ... gentlemen and ladies get your decks ready... now all we need is a few AIs and Rastafari in space and the prophecies of William Gibson will have been fulfilled ....

check out  Leap Motion now