MYO Armband to Bring Gesture and Muscle-Recognition Control to Macs

Thalmic Labs has announced a $149 armband called MYO that detects motion and muscle movements to allow control of a Mac, PC, or other device using gestures (via The Next Web).

myo
The demo video shows someone scrolling by waving two fingers in the air (mimicking the standard OS X trackpad gesture), snapping fingers to start iTunes playing, rotating a fist to increase the volume, holding up a hand in a 'stop' motion to pause a video, gesturing backwards to rewind a video and snapping fingers to play the video. The demo also illustrates a variety of other uses for the device, from delivering a presentation to controlling a remotely-operated vehicle.


Unlike Microsoft Kinect, no camera is required, but the armband approach means it will work only with gestures made with one hand rather than detecting whole-body movements.

Very cool and impressive. I hope this finds its way into our future soon - Steve Wozniak

MYO, which connects via Bluetooth, claims to work out of the box with Mac and Windows machines with APIs promised for iOS and Android developers.

The MYO is available to pre-order with limited quantities available for a late 2013 launch.

Top Rated Comments

imgonephishin Avatar
145 months ago
It's awesome, but I'm curious as to how it interprets intended motions vs. accidental input. The clip of the snowboarder is particularly humorous. The arms are flailing around but at some point it recognizes that a little flip of the wrist means "change track."

This is not an insurmountable technological hurdle, but I'd be curious to hear how the developers address it. It could be a deal breaker if every time I scratch my butt it shares my current status to Twitter.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ProVideo Avatar
145 months ago
Warning: Viewing redtube with this device might cause your computer to explode.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ctdonath Avatar
145 months ago
Sheer raging awesomeness.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
powers74 Avatar
145 months ago
This tech would be great in prosthesis.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
achtung! Avatar
145 months ago
minority report, here we go! :P
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MonkeySee.... Avatar
145 months ago
That's some Jedi **** right there. :cool:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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