As part of its Project Soli, Google designed a smartwatch with built-in radar system that allows gesture control.
According to Engadget, Google's Project Soli was created with the aim of delivering radar-powered finger gesture control to wearables. Now Google gives people a closer look at how the technology could be implemented in real products.
The first product to test Google's radar-powered finger gesture control system is a customized LG Urbane smartwatch. Google made a demonstration of how the built-in radar system works in tandem with the smartwatch.
The watch was controlled by Google's representatives by simply holding fingers in front of it. Even more options opened up as the reps moved closer. The standard watch face returned as they moved away.
Right now this is just a demonstration, but Project Soli could solve the problem of controlling smart devices with no screens at all or with just very tiny screens. The Verge reports that Ivan Poupyrev, technical project lead for Project Soli at Google's ATAP research lab, explained that the project is designed to prove that we can control the digital world around us with hand gesture by embedding tiny radar chips into electronics.
ATAP is a division within Google that stands for Advanced Technologies and Projects. It was formerly led by Regina Dugan who previously worked for DARPA. Her influence led the division to work on technologies ranging from real-time 3D mapping (Tango) to modular phones (Project Ara) to cinematic, live-action virtual reality movies (Spotlight Stories).
After Dugan left earlier this year for Facebook, the Soli Project still remained at ATAP. The new and singular goal of the project is now to create the design language and the industry for radar-enabled consumer electronics. Now Poupyrev directed his team to move beyond the experiment phase and to prove that radar can work in the real world in a smartwatch product.
