Learn About Gesture Recognition and See How Cadillac is Already Using It!
First the definition…
In gesture recognition technology, a camera reads the movements of the human body and communicates the data to a computer that uses the gestures as input to control devices or applications. For example, a person clapping his hands together in front of a camera can produce the sound of cymbals being crashed together when the gesture is fed through a computer.
We all know it's in the works and has been for a while. It has already manifested itself in the gaming industry and we are seeing it now via google glass. It's just a matter of time before we are faced with yet one more variable to consider when designing a product.
Touch technology, thanks to Apple, took the world by storm with a high adoption rate and a rare sharp intuitive learning curve. Everyone just got it, including two year olds within a matter of seconds. Touch technology is also scaleable as It works within a confined set of guidelines with very clear inputs – the touch of your finger.
Gesture recognition however is a bit more complicated. Why? Here are a few reasons:
- We are all different physically. We all do things slightly differently, whether it is blinking or moving a finger in the air from the left to the right. The screen has to adjust specially to person. Similar to voice recognition.
- There are certain things that you would rather do quietly. As I'm searching the internet for something, rather than making my eyes move quickly down the page to scroll or waving my hand rapidly, I may prefer to do it slightly with my finger and not draw attention to myself.
- Human Ergonomics. Sitting at a desk and looking at a lap top suddenly makes my mouse pad cursor unnecessary. Why do I need my cursor if I can just gesture or tap on something that will give me my result. To that same extent – navigation may drastically change if gesturing becomes the norm because the natural movement of gesturing while at a desktop would be with your elbow somewhat glued to the desk, so the range of motion suddenly turns into an arc. Therefore does it make sense for navigation to be more at an arc value vs. the standard horizontal top of the page value? This is just one of the variables to consider.
- It seems easier but is it really? While in some situations, gesture recognition seems to really be the way to go (gaming, oversized digital displays (think Tom Cruise and the Minority Report) or music perhaps) but in other situations are we just overcomplicating an experience?
So what's the net net here? We still have a ways to go when it comes to gesture recognition. Think long and hard about the audiences you are working with and the product you are designing.
I have no doubt it will slowly begin to creep its way into our lives but as designers of products, let's always be sure to ask the very important question of "will this enhance or detract from the experience." In that question, I believe you will find the correct answer on how to proceed in adding the additional requirement in.
In the case of Cadillac, they figured out just where they can use it in their cars. It's called
CUE (Cadillac User Experience). How you ask? Very simply by the screen sensing the users presence of their finger coming closer to the screen and narrowing results or expanding. The screen is predominantly tactile and voice operated but I love that they were able to figure out a way to incorporate gesturing to enhance the user experience.
Check out the latest
CNET review of 2013 Cadillac ATS that includes the CUE technology. Surprisingly, the voice and proximity gesture recognition worked very well for the reviewer (which are usually the trickier ones) but the tactile piece was a bit slow in response time. I'm sure they are working on it!
I expect to see more of this integration in the future from Cadillac. Way to go!
Side note: Cadillac introduced CUE back in 2011 and has been enhancing ever since…
