Leap Motion

• Leap Motion technology makes it possible to interact with technology using your bare hands.
• The company was founded in 2010 by David Holz and Michael Buckwald, and began shipping the Leap Motion Controller in July 2013.
• Leap Motion HQ is in San Francisco, CA.

The Leap Motion Controller works alongside your mouse and keyboard, translating hand and finger movements into a rich array [1] of 3D input. Developers are using the device to create everything from games, art, and music to motion-controlled robots and AR/VR experiences.

Hardware Breakdown

Near-Infrared LEDs ○ Illuminate hands in day or night

• Wide Angle Lenses ○ Provide large interaction space
• Global Shutter Image Sensors ○ 120+ frames per second
• USB Controller ○ Crops and compresses video streams ○ USB 2.0 Languages Available

Native Development

• Windows, Mac & Linux
• C++, C# (Unity3D), Objective-C, Java & Python
• Extensible to other languages (e.g., Flash/AIR, MatLab, Ruby)
• Polling or event callbacks
• SDK, libraries, documentation, tutorials & examples available from developer.leapmotion.com
• Unity assets and examples from developer. leapmotion.com/downloads/unity Web Development
• Support for modern browsers through WebSocket connection
• JavaScript & Coffee Script
• Plugin system to share common [2] code & reduce boilerplate
• Polling or event callbacks
• LeapJS library, documentation, tutorials & examples available from Leap.JS
• Libraries hosted on our CDN

Developer Community

In December 2013, Founders Fund and SOSV announced the LEAP.AXLR8R, a business accelerator for startups making innovative use of the Leap Motion controller. Projects emerging from the accelerator included Diplopia (now Vivid Vision), a tech startup using the Leap Motion Controller and Oculus Rift for lazy eye sufferers, and Motion Savvy, which is developing a Leap Motion-equipped tablet case that can interpret American Sign Language.

Leap Motion has an app store called Airspace where it sells apps made by developers. As of May 2014, the store had [3] over 200 apps, including a Google Earth integration, virtual clay sculpting app, digital musical instrument, and virtual reality demos.

The Leap Motion Controller has also been used by surgeons and researchers for medical software, automotive companies for concept cars, and musicians for composition in Ableton Live. In 2016, Alt space VR added hand tracking support for the Leap Motion Controller to their online social platform above the figure1.

Figure1: Leep motion

• Leap Motion, Inc. (formerly OcuSpec Inc.) was an American company that manufactured and marketed a computer hardware sensor device that supports hand and finger motions as input, analogous to a mouse, but requires no hand contact or touching. In 2016, the company released new software designed for hand tracking in virtual reality.
• The Leap Motion Controller is a small device that connects with a PC or Mac and enables users to manipulate digital objects with hand motions. Working with other hardware the Leap Motion controller [4] adds a new way to interact with the digital world. Programs designed to interpret gesture-based computing allow the user to play games, create designs, and learn in a ‘hands on’
• The Leap Motion Controller uses an infrared scanner and sensor to map and track the human hand. This information is used to create, in real time, a digital version of the hand that can manipulate digital objects.
• The Leap Motion Controller was developed in San Francisco California by the Leap Motion Incorporation. Their software is open to developers who want to create new programs that use their technology in creative ways. As of early 2014 the Leap Motion.
• Up until this point nearly all interactions with computer programs required an intermediary step (Mouse, keyboard, etc.) between the human hand and the digital environment. The Leap Motion Controller is a [5] big step towards bridging this gap and allowing humans to manipulate computer programs in a similar manner that they manipulate real world objects.
• The Leap Motion Controller only works with programs that are specifically written for it. This means that what it can do is strictly limited to the programs that were built with the Controller in mind. Also, while much of the software works very well it has a tendency to be inconsistent.
• With the ability for developers to design their own software for the Leap Motion Controller its creative potential is incredible. The creators of Leap Motion have put the tools into the hands of others to experiment with and modify. This is already leading to the development of new, unique, software and uses for this technology.

Because Leap Motion Controllers allow users to manipulate 3D objects in an instinctual way, they can be used to familiarize students with complex structures. Currently anatomy students with Leap can use software like Cyber Science to dissect a body and chemistry students can examine molecules from the RCSB protein bank using the Molecules program. Both are just a few examples of the educational benefits of gesture-based computing.

References:

1. https://developer.leapmotion.com
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_Motion
3. https://leapdev-production-cdn.leapmotion.com/assets/Leap Motion
4. https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6701-leap-motion.html

Cite this article:

S. Nandhinidwaraka (2021) Leep motion, Anatechmaz, pp. 11