Leap Motion is a small device that is about three inches long and nevertheless works incredibly well for motion control. With two embedded cameras and three infrared LEDs, it can observe a three-dimensional space within 1 meter above the device. This small device can be plugged in into your PC or mac to bring motion control to your computer. The natural interaction in virtual and augmented reality using motion has been conceptually around for a long time and this device is one of the powerful products that hit the market for motion control. The device aims to bring a new interaction paradigm that is not meant to replace the regular use of keyboard and mouse but to incorporate with them. The device is easy to set up and has numerous cheap and free apps. It can make a good deal for its small design, low price and powerful technology.
The Leap Motion website shows interesting use cases of the device. However, I think there are some reasons that this device didn’t reach mainstream users although with its accurate and powerful hand tracking technology. Personally, I would avoid using this device as a hand tracker because of its limited tracking area. The user is limited to a small working area, one meter above the device, and hence limited movement. Compared to other devices like the Microsoft’s Kinect, Leap Motion has very high sensitivity and accuracy; it can detect the very slight movements of the hand. Yet, it has less sensing region, which I believe made the Kinect more popular because of its wider sensing area.
Although the user is not required to wear any special instruments, the device connects to the computer using USP. It doesn’t support wireless communication, which also put a limitation on its mobility. Even with the new software that is specially designed for VR/AR applications, the movement is limited! Well, mobility might not be necessary in VR/AR applications but the trend is to get rid of wires and shift to wireless headsets and hence motion controllers. On another hand, some VR/AR applications involve stand and moving players. In such cases, the device is needed to move along with the player.
Leap Motion has its own app store, AirSpace, with hundreds of applications. I think virtual typing is a very potential kind of application for Leap Motion in its current state although I haven’t explored the app store for the existence of such application. We can imagine though the fatigue that would be associated with that kind of apps. You would be required to hold your hand above the device during the typing. Leap Motion in the future might consider table mode interaction where Leap Motion is used to interact with surfaces.
I’m personally impressed by the device precision, however, the hand registration sometime doesn’t take place properly. It happens in many cases that the hands are registered flipped on the device application. New software called Orion is released by the Leap Motion Company to target virtual and augmented reality applications. The ultimate goal is to use your hand to control the virtual world around you instead of handheld controllers for full immersion. The overall potential that the Leap Motion brings could be revolutionary.
In overall, I can summarize its pros and cons as follows:
Pros:
- Small design
- Low Price
- High precision
- Compatibility with different OS
- Free SDK and numerous apps
- Easy to set up
Cons:
- Limited sensing area (the biggest hurdle, I believe)
- Often incorrect hand registration
- No standard gestures