Tag: myo armband

A wearable device makes it easier for people to interact with the digital world using smart glasses.

Waterloo-based Canadian startup, Thalmic Labs, has developed innovative wearable technology, an armband known as Myo, which gives the wearer the ability to control movements on a screen with a simple flick of their wrist, and the company has announced this technology has been integrated with Google Glass.

The wearable tech will make it easier for people in certain industries to use Glass as they go about their day.

The hand gesture armband could be particularly beneficial to individuals who work in industries such as construction and healthcare, where being able to use hands-free digital technology could be highly advantageous.

The Myo armband utilizes sensors to detect muscle movements in the wearer’s forearm when they make a hand signal. The wearable technology translates the gesture that was made on a screen. Thalmic Labs has said that it is working to change consumer gaming experiences, controlling a desktop computer, and online interactions with its device.

However, now the company is going one step further and will also be targeting workers in healthcare, field service, and construction. In these industries, giving workers on the move the advantage of using subtle finger and hand gestures, while interacting with smart glasses, makes a lot of sense.

Thalmic Labs co-founder Matthew Bailey said that “We’re literally changing the way that we, as people, interact with the digital world around us.” He added that the company is looking to find more ways to naturally merge people and technology. He commented that “We’re hitting the limits of today’s form factors whether they be personal computers, tablets, or smartphones. We believe wearable computing is the next progression in that evolution.”

The wearable technology can instantly interact with apps on smart glasses.

According to Stephen Lake, CEO and co-founder, the armband gives wearers the power to interact with smart glass applications without the person needing another controller or having to remove gloves. Thus, users will not require remote controls, buttons, touch pads, or voice control, all of which can slow down their ability to quickly access the information they need. This makes the technology ideal in noisy work environments and in those where maintaining sterility is vital.

Thalmic Lab’s public launch of its wearable technology will take place next month. Currently, more than 40,000 Myo armbands have been pre-ordered.

This new company is coming up with products that you’d expect James Bond to carry.

A startup company called Thalmic Labs, from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, has started taking pre-orders for some of its gadgets which have been described as futuristic and have been compared to the types of devices that 007 would be seen using in his movies.

Among the products receiving the most attention is the Myo armband that it has had available for pre-order for a few months.

This particular gadget from Thalmic Labs picks up the forearm muscles’ electrical activities – particularly the movements for the control of the wrist and fingers as they gesture and perform various tasks – in order to translate those signals into commands. Stephen Lake, the co-founder and CEO of Thalmic, said that the advantage of the Myo armband over motion capture devices – such as Kinect from Microsoft or the Leap Motion Controller – is that users are not required to wave their hands around in front of a camera.

This gadget requires a smaller amount of workspace and less dramatic movements.

Lake explained that when cameras are used by gadgets, they need a larger workspace in which to function, and they are able to detect only exaggerated movements, or on the other hand, require a very tiny workspace with the fine type of movements that exist only in areas such as surgery. But the Myo is capable of detecting large arm motions as well as more subtle gestures of the fingers, moreover the user is not required to remain in one place and face a single direction.

He stated that what the company is most interested in achieving in terms of the gadgets that it produces, “is the next evolution of smart devices–in getting away from sitting in front of a computer.”

At the moment, the applications for the Myo have to do with using the armband as a replacement for other types of controllers, such as to control a tool or weapon in a video game, to turn up the volume on a computer, or to flick the wrist in order to move to the next slide in a presentation. Lake also added that “We’ve also played with things like the Sphero robotic ball and a remote-controlled helicopter drone.”