Gesture Control Done Different: Deus Ex Technologies Making Tendon-Based Sensor

By Kevin Carbotte
published

Smartwatches and wearables are fairly new technology, but they are gaining traction quickly. The founders of Deus Ex Technologies weren't satisfied with the current solutions for navigating a smartwatch interface. The company feels the screens of these devices are too small to be intuitive, and voice control didn't live up to the founders' expectations.

Deus Ex Technologies is in the process of developing Aria, a gesture control system that measures the movements of your tendons rather than some form of camera or electrical sensor to track your movements. The company believes this approach is more accurate and reliable than other methods. In addition, Deus Ex said its sensors are smaller and more comfortable, while working in situations that other approaches may not, such as sweaty or wet skin.

Aria will come in two different versions. One is a clip that is designed for Android Wear devices. It slips under and clips to the strap of the watch. It connects using Bluetooth and uses battery power, which Deus Ex claimed will last 24 hours. It will be compatible with all of the available Android Wear watches.

There will also be a version for Pebble that comes in the form of a Smartstrap. This iteration uses a wired connection with the sensors embedded into the strap itself.  

Deus Ex said gestures can be used to answer or refuse phone calls, check and read email, and even control the camera app of your phone. The company has developed a gesture recognition algorithm that allows for completely custom gestures, and said you just need to calibrate the device to perform a desired task with any gesture. The software is open source, and a software development kit is available for the Android version.

Deus Ex Technologies is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of the product. The company is seeking $100,000 and has nearly hit the halfway mark in just over a day. The campaign wraps up on July 19, and if its successful, products are expected to be in backers' hands by June 2016.

Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Kevin Carbotte

 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • kenjitamura
    Someone forgot to take this watch off while m@st*rbating and accidentally e-mailed a video of it to all their contacts! Why oh why did they set the phone to charge on a dock that was facing them beforehand?!
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    Deus Ex? Like the game? isn't this copyright infringement?
    Reply
  • fixxxer113
    Deus Ex? Like the game? isn't this copyright infringement?

    It's interesting that, although it comes from the phrase "Deus ex machina" that definitely can't be copyrighted, the term "Deus ex" with only these two words pretty much only shows up in relation to the games.

    I guess it's one of those cases where the words are just simple words that can be found in a dictionary and don't contain any names or unique brand words. On the other hand, it might be on the limit of what is legal and if the game's copyright holders wanted the could start something. We've seen more ridiculous claims lately *cough cough* Sky vs Skype *cough*...
    Reply
  • fixxxer113
    When I first saw the straps I though you would have to flick and bend your wrist in different ways to send commands, which would look kinda strange, but if this actually works like in the vide, using subtle finger movements then it's kinda cool. I always thought we would all look ridiculous in the future, walking in the street giving voice commands and flailing our hands around :P
    Reply