Hi-tech gadgets are in for a new big leap

We won’t be able to separate ultimate science from magic. But what about some fledgling science that looks like magic already? As with many scientific innovations, “Leap Motion” has just begun, but everyone, probably with the exception of touchscreen makers that don’t want to go farther than that, has been wowed.

We know computer devices with cameras are capable of sensing our motions. To create something substantial out of it is a big leap. And to think that Leap Motion is just a small first step fills us with great excitement and curiosity. 

How far will it go? What will the future look like, when everybody can play a real-life Harry Potter and achieve something through the wave of his hand? How soon will that day arrive?

Leap Motion, basically, is a small USB peripheral designed to be placed on or near a physical desktop. 

Using cameras and an infrared sensor, the device catches the movements of fingers in an “observation” area, allowing us to send commands to the computer without having to touch the screen, or the mouse, or the keyboard. Some smart TVs have featured such “magic” in its infancy. We have just witnessed the very beginning of something with great potential.

Some say Leap Motion is not as easy to use as we might think. People who make such complaints should know better. 

The first cars were not easy to drive and the first planes not easy to fly. It’s the implementation of a great concept that counts. Light bulbs, telephones, radios, televisions and the like all had their days as awkward devices that were complicated to install or use. Like they say, a great journey can never begin without the first step.

Tom Cruise in “Minority Report” marvelled moviegoers with elegant hand movements that shifted still and video images around on giant, transparent computer screens. He needed a pair of computerised gloves with some kind of Bluetooth connection. 

Leap Motion doesn’t need those. Will a day soon come when our children watch “Minority Report” and feel like us watching an old sci-fi where computer screens are several inches thick?

The immediate impact could be on the computer industry. Current designs and investment have revolved around touchscreen technology, which might become obsolete faster than we thought. It’s very likely that Leap Motion can be integrated into key devices, allowing us to place them just beyond the reach of our fingers.

It will be expensive and difficult to use at first. But we have seen enough of innovative products’ evolution not to worry. Leap Motion will go through similar stages of evolution. 

First it will be a complex and expensive device affordable to a privileged few. Then it will become cheaper, better and easier to use. Then rival products and ideas will come out and mass competition will democratise consumption.

Witchcraft, some say, could be the ultimate science known to a very few. That’s a questionable yet intriguing theory. After all, all Harry Potter has to do is wave his magic wand and utter cryptic words in an extremely precise way at an extremely precise moment. Fans of his books must be praying the ultimate science theory is not true. When magic loses its magic, it’s tough. But if the reality that replaces it is equally magical, it will be some compensation.