Gesture recognition could bring touch-free controls to cheap VR headsets

Israeli tech company EyeSight has been developing gesture recognition controls for different platforms for years, and is now turning its attention to smartphone-powered VR headsets. In a YouTube video, the company showed off a concept for the Samsung Gear VR, with the user navigating a virtual interface using their hand as a pointer. They then "click" with their finger to select something — a gesture that's identical to the "air tap" one used in Microsoft's augmented reality HoloLens.

It's not clear how far along EyeSight is with this concept, and there would certainly be significant challenges in implementing it. How much of the phone's processing power would it take up, for example, and how would you encourage app developers to integrate it? EyeSight told TechCrunch that the project was in the early stages, but that the company does plan to open up an SDK in "the near future." For now, though, it's just an intriguing idea, albeit one that could add a whole new dimension to VR experiences on smartphone-powered devices.

• ViaTechCrunch
• SourceEyeSight (YouTube)