Video at your fingertips thanks to ‘Minority Report’ technology
The interface, developed by scientist John Underkoffler, has been commercialised by the Los Angeles firm Oblong Industries as a way to sift through massive amounts of video and other data.
And yes, the software can be used by law enforcement and intelligence services.
But no, it is not the “pre-crime” detection program illustrated in the 2002 Steven Spielberg sci-fi film.
Gamers have been able to control their Xbox in a similar fashion with Microsoft’s Kinect add on.
Kwin Kramer, chief executive of Oblong, said the software can help in searching through “big data” for information. It can also create souped-up video-conference capabilities where participants share data from multiple devices like smartphones and tablets, integrated into a large video display.
“We think the future of computing is multiuser, multiscreen, multidevice,” Kramer said. “This system helps with big workflow problems.”
A key part of the system is the gesture interface, which the company calls the “g-speak” spatial operating environment.
That grew out of a project by Underkoffler — then a scientist at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology — for Minority Report, before he became chief scientist at the start-up company Oblong.
“We have demo versions of this kind of software which show exactly the Minority Report user experience, allowing you to move back and forth in time, or to zoom in to look at details,” Kramer said.
He said the same software can help businesses to “allow better collaboration, visualisation and analysis of large amounts of data”.
“You can have a lot of data but it’s hard to make use of that,” Kramer said.
“It can be on different machines and hard to access. This allows multiple people to look at that.”
Gestural interfaces have been developed for other firms including Microsoft’s Kinect but Oblong says it has far more sophisticated systems which can use Kinect and more.
Some highly sensitive systems use a data glove which can be more precise than ordinary hand movements.
Oblong has contracts with firms such as Boeing, General Electric, and Saudi Aramco to help in analysing large amounts of data. It is also developing a gestural interface for onboard computers with carmaker Audi.
It has raised an unspecified amount of venture capital from investors including Foundry Group, Energy Technology Ventures and Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners.
Brad Feld, managing director at Foundry Group, said Oblong offers “a path to fundamentally change the way we interact with computers”.
“I think most people look at those Minority Report interfaces and imagine how they could use that flexible system in their own office or designs studio,” Kramer said. “It isn’t science fiction, it’s real.”
