Microchip reveals low-cost 3D gesture recognition sol'n

Microchip Technology Inc. has announced that its most recent offering enables any embedded device to recognise 3D gestures in mid-air. The company added that its GestIC chip is the most cost-effective gesture detection system available in the market.

"We not only provide the lowest-cost entry point for easy-to-use yet advanced 3D hand gesture recognition," stated Fanie Duvenhage, director of Microchip's human machine interface division, "but by focusing our newest family member, the MGC3030, on the core gesture detection function, we make the software engineers job quick and easy too, using our free, downloadable Aurea graphical user interface (GUI) and Colibri Gesture Suite."

The $2 GestIC (MGC3030 in an SSOP28 package) includes a 3D gesture processing unit that makes the engineers' job easy, according to Duvenhage, by detecting a variety of gestures with built-in algorithms. The GestIC is inexpensive enough for smart toys, yet smart enough to control audio systems, security systems, lighting systems and any other embedded application that could work smarter with gesture control, the company noted.

The Aurea GUI that allows engineers to quickly configure the input-output ports to communicate with the host application processor or even directly control external devices without an application processor. The on-chip gesture processing unit is actually a 32bit digital signal processor (DSP) with the built-in firmware to recognise gestures made over very simple sensors, eliminating the need for a camera or host processor.

Microchip's latest GestIC accepts five sensor inputs to its gesture processing unit that can be programmed to recognise virtually any (reasonable) gesture to control device functions. (Source: Microchip)

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