Leap Motion previews its gesture control capabilities with Windows 8

By Meghan McDonough May 20, 2013

Check out our full review of the Leap Motion gesture controller.

We’re learning more about the capabilities of the Leap Motion controller today thanks to a video posted on the company’s YouTube channel showcasing how the Leap controls the Windows environment. The 3D gesture-based Leap controller was originally slated to go on sale to the public in May but got pushed back to July for additional testing. The video posted today shows a hand commanding the screen to surf the Web, point, click, and rotate hand-drawn images.

The Leap Motion controller will be released to developers in June for beta testing and will bring hands-free computing to Windows 7 and 8. The company has also stated that a video showing the controller interfacing with Mac OS X is on the way. The goal is to allow users to manipulate a screen without having to touch it. While we’ve seen gesture-based controllers in the past, the Leap Motion looks very promising.

When the Leap was delayed, CEO Michael Buckwald said, “Ultimately, the only way we felt 100 percent confident we could deliver a truly magical product that would do justice to this new form of interaction, was to push the date so we would have more time for a larger, more diverse beta test.” It’s a bold move by any CEO to admit that a product needs more time for testing and we were glad to see that the company was willing to delay such a unique product until it got it right.

Now that it’s almost there, have a look at the video below showing the different ways Leap Motion allows users to control their computers without a keyboard, mouse, or even a touchscreen.

Check out the video below and let us know what you think. Would you control your computer using only gestures?

Meghan McDonough

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Meghan J. McDonough is a Chicago-based purveyor of consumer technology and music. She previously wrote for LAPTOP Magazine…

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