An Invisible iPhone In The Palm Of Your Hand

Sean Gustafson, Patrick Baudisch and Christian Holz from the Hasso Plattner Institute at Potsdam University in Germany have created an “Imaginary Phone” that lets users control their iPhone without touching it, instead touching the palm of their hand.

Depth cameras are used to beam an invisible infrared pattern onto a person’s palm that track their finger presses and sends the information to a computer which translates this into commands for the iPhone. For this to work properly, users need to memorize the location of the apps on their phone and use their palm as a “virtual framework”, selecting different areas for different functions. For example, the Messages icon is on the left of the top row so you would need to press your finger on the top left of your palm to select it.

Hasso Plattner Institute

[via DVICE]