Gesture-swipe keyboards that let you type by waving your hands

Toronto: In what could bring about some sweeping changes to the information technology, scientists are now on their way to present "gesture-swipe" keyboards that lets you type messages simply by waving your hands in the air.

Based partly on sensor technology built for the Microsoft Kinect games, the keyboards of the future could let users manipulate data without sitting down and typing in one letter at a time.

These ideas will help doctors use a computer while doing surgery, for example, or just drive a video game race car with an imaginary steering wheel, said researchers.

Microsoft Research has already come up with a prototype keyboard "sensing rich and expressive motion gestures performed both on and directly above the device".

"It lets you pinch and swipe just like a smart phone screen a few inches above the keyboard, using built-in infrared sensors to detect movement," Discovery News reported.

####