LONDON: Tech giant Microsoft is working on next generation technology that will enable 'no-touch' phones, tablets and televisions that can be operated from afar, without the need to swipe them.
The technology will allow users to control a screen with their fingers even from the other side of the room and put their hands through a screen to 'touch' objects.
Microsoft said it is has begun to create machines that move far beyond touchscreens.
The company is building an electronic bracelet that can detect movements in a person's fingers, allowing them to imitate the actions of poking and flicking the screen to operate a device.
The bracelet would allow people to operate a television despite having their back turned or control a mobile phone with their hands in their pockets, The Times reported.
Microsoft has also unveiled new 'interactive displays'. Among them is a 'floating display', which gives the illusion of a globe spinning or a dragon flying, just inches above a flat monitor. Cameras and motion sensors then allow people to interact with these floating objects.
Another prototype allows someone sitting in front of a large screen to see a series of cubes. They can then slip their hands behind the device in order to 'touch' these objects.
This device operates by surrounding a screen with cameras that can detect the user and their movements, matching them to on-screen items.
Tim Large, a researcher from Microsoft Applied Sciences Group, said that final versions of these displays will be ready in two to five years.
The technology will allow users to control a screen with their fingers even from the other side of the room and put their hands through a screen to 'touch' objects.
Microsoft said it is has begun to create machines that move far beyond touchscreens.
The company is building an electronic bracelet that can detect movements in a person's fingers, allowing them to imitate the actions of poking and flicking the screen to operate a device.
The bracelet would allow people to operate a television despite having their back turned or control a mobile phone with their hands in their pockets, The Times reported.
Microsoft has also unveiled new 'interactive displays'. Among them is a 'floating display', which gives the illusion of a globe spinning or a dragon flying, just inches above a flat monitor. Cameras and motion sensors then allow people to interact with these floating objects.
Another prototype allows someone sitting in front of a large screen to see a series of cubes. They can then slip their hands behind the device in order to 'touch' these objects.
This device operates by surrounding a screen with cameras that can detect the user and their movements, matching them to on-screen items.
Tim Large, a researcher from Microsoft Applied Sciences Group, said that final versions of these displays will be ready in two to five years.
