Doublepoint
“ This is a matter of building the next touch screen , “ say Ohto Pentikäinen , chief operating officer of a fellowship calledDoublepoint , as he introduced Digital Trends to its fascinating , next - generation gesture control organization . The best mode you could think of it is asApple ’s Double Tap featureon steroids .
I chatted with Pentikäinen over a television call duringCES 2024to learn more .
More than an app
You may have seen the app Doublepoint launch for Wear OS , called Wow Mouse , at CES 2024 already , but it ’s only the beginning of what the company is work on . Wow Mouse adds gesture ascendency to your Wear O smartwatch , effectively turn it into a computer mouse on your wrist joint that habituate finger and radiocarpal joint movements to operate . But Wow Mouse is a relatively basic demonstration of what Doublepoint is working on .
“ We provide something a deal more comprehensive , ” Pentikäinen said when asked about the Wow Mouse app , “ and there ’s a lot more we can do than just a single tap . The heavy matter that our current hardware is up to of doing is mite and hold , which means you may actually scroll , as well as manipulate objects . ”
Doublepoint calls these ‘ micro gestures , ’ and they admit everything from tap to select , tap to scroll , and double tap . Having additional gestures that go beyondDouble pat ’s double - pinch gestureis very appealing and gets to the heart and soul of why Pentikäinen compared the technology to a touch screen , as it replicates many of the same gesture we use on them already .
So , how does Doublepoint ’s system piece of work ?
How these gestures work
“ How micro gesture detection work is unlike computer vision - based hand trailing , ” Pentikäinen explained , using a familiar compare . “ That utilize the camera to calculate the pose of your paw , and it does this every msec or whatever the frame of reference charge per unit is when your fingers touch each other . The way we find ghost uses the Inertial Measurement Unit . ”
The Inertial Measurement Unit ( IMU ) sounds like a special spell of computer hardware , but in fact , it merely include an accelerometer , gyro , and magnetometer . In other words , core sensor that are found in almost allsmartwatches and other article of clothing .
“ It look for a trembling caused when your finger’s breadth touch each other , ” Pentikäinen said , at which point Doublepoint ’s algorithm then differentiate that quiver from every other shaking that happens when you move your finger . However , the modern touch - and - view as gesture , which is very unusual and critical to the algorithm ’s appeal , is a little different and far more complicated .
“ For pinch and delay , we also postulate to know when your finger are kept together , and we actually practice tendon monitoring for that . We use the optical heart rate sensor not to look at muscle , but the tendons thatconnectyour finger to the sinew , and it ’s the movement that tells us when you block off impact , ” he said .
Configuration and accuracy
Part of the success of Apple ’s Double Tap is that it forge without any setup or configuration , and is also highly exact . What about Doublepoint ’s system ?
“ We want to make it one of our selling points from the very beginning that we ’re not conk to demand any configuration , and when you put it on , it works instantly . What that think is we require to have a mental process in place to collect data from a wide variety of citizenry and take into account relevant factor like Body Mass Index ( BMI ) , years , and melatonin levels . We ’ve been able to get to very , very honest accuracy levels . Almost in the 97 % to 98 % stove . Of naturally , there ’s still a luck of study to do , ” he said .
What ’s also interesting is a smartwatch with Doublepoint ’s gesture recognition can be pair with other Bluetooth devices , such as those with eye tracking , so they work together . It make master system like this more born and more private , too , as there is no need for voice recognition as a backup or alternative .
Qualcomm is interested
Gesture controls are nothing new , but there ’s no doubt Apple ’s two-fold Tap system has reignite interest in them recently . And it ’s likely to only get more attention once theVision Pro headsetis released , as other competing system may prove new and dissimilar thing to make controlling headset easy and more intuitive . It ’s , therefore , credibly no surprise to get a line Qualcomm is concerned in Doublepoint ’s applied science .
“ We do have a vendor accord with Qualcomm , ” Pentikäinen revealed . “ It means the idea is to engraft our algorithms into Qualcomm chips , and they , of course , provide these chips to a tidy sum of different watch and physical fitness tracker providers out there today . ”
In addition to Qualcomm , it ’s also working with detector company to embed its algorithm in the sensing element itself . Then there is the company ’s own point of reference smartwatch chopine , which Pentikäinen said “ is designed to give masses an musical theme of what we can do with [ the algorithms ] , and show how we would work up it into a product . ”
Coming soon?
Does this think a new smartwatch with motion and nip - and - contain applied science from Doublepoint that allows you to scroll , swipe , vary values like the volume or brightness level is coming soon ?
“ We do n’t have confirmed schedule on when our married person are capable to take their products to market , but I would say these thing are presently evolving very apace , ” Pentikäinen said .
Several times during our abbreviated conversation , Pentikäinen made comparison between Doublepoint ’s gesture ascendence system and the touchscreen , and we end with a better explanation of why he made them .
“ The touch screen protrude out from the sound , basically , and now we see it everywhere , ” he tell . “ It enabled all variety of Modern equipment . Apple double down on gesture realisation last year , and they fundamentally present that gestures are going to be a lively manner of improving . So for us , we just want to enable this for as many companies out there as potential , using what we intend is the next touch screen . ”
While we will have to wait for a smartwatch with Doublepoint ’s technology to arrive , you’re able to try out a basic variation through theWow Mouse app , which is quick to download through Google Play for selected Wear OS smartwatches right now .
