A program for controlling a computer with your voice. The simplest way to control a computer using your voice. Voice control does not work. What could be the reasons and how to fix it

Today we will talk about our speech. I wish you control your computer with your voice, without using your fingers? And, as they say, with the power of thought! True, we will not control the computer with the power of thought, but with the power of our voice it is quite possible.

Typle program is one of the best programs to date for controlling a computer via voice. On the sites in the comments to this program, opinions converge.

True, it has its shortcomings. But more on that later. By the way, if you are interested, read my review.

You can download the program here: http://freesoft.ru/type

How to use it? First, let's launch it and look at the main control buttons:

The program welcomes us and immediately gives us tips on how to use Typle. First, click the “add” button and write down a word, for example “open”. To do this, let’s say this word into the microphone:

Then click add. So, we saved the word “Open” in the program with our voice. You can speak any other words into the microphone. The main thing is not to get confused.

The next step is to add commands. To do this, let's go to this point:

Then we check the box next to the item we need:

Select a program, application or action and click on the red record button. If the computer has accepted our voice, click “Add”:

And now one voice command will be visible in our profile. IN in this case the one that opens 7-Zip:

And now, by clicking the final “start talking” button

We say the phrase “open Seven Zip.” In my case, everything will work. And the 7-zip program will open. Remember this phrase: Just open yourself? This is something approximately the same.

The program does not always work adequately. Now the mighty Russian language has not been fully studied by linguist programmers... But it’s still nice when the computer listens to you.

Therefore, for testing and banal curiosity, the Typle program is 100% suitable.

In this video you can see the history of the creation of the first voice engines and what else we need to work on:

There are such terrible names of other analogues of the program as Gorynych, Perpetuum, Dictograph, Voice Commander. But they are all “wrong.” They do not pass criticism of a worthy program.

It took me 5 minutes to master this program. This is quite a long time (mostly, I understand such programs in 1-2 minutes). If you have any questions, write. Before see you soon, Friends:)!

You can interact with your computer using more than just a keyboard and mouse. Voice command control is also available. Exist special utilities that allow you to do this. Their functions include not only recording text under dictation or transcribing audio recordings. Through them you can launch applications, use them, and generally do anything. Voice control of your computer makes working with your PC easier. Commands are transmitted quickly and without extra effort. Of course, if you have a microphone.

We will introduce you to applications with similar functionality

This function is built into the English version of Windows. To use it you must have an Enterprise or Ultimate license. But even in Russified operating systems, you can configure voice control and text dictation. Use one of the following applications.

The application is easy to understand

Popular program. Although it has its drawbacks. The essence of its work is simple: you set a command and choose what action it should perform. Let's look at setting up this application using a specific example.

1. Download and install it. There is a free and Premiun version. You have to buy the second one to try it on your computer.
2. Launch the utility. An information window with tips will appear.
3. There are many things on her control panel. various functions. Some - with same names. You need to navigate by the picture, not by the inscription. Click the "Add" button - it shows a face.
4. Set your profile name and keyword, which will represent the command. For example, write “open” if you are going to configure the launch of an application by voice. Or “go to” to instantly go to a site without entering its address.
5. Now we need to record this very command in the form of an audio image. Click on the button with the red circle. And clearly, distinctly pronounce the desired phrase into the microphone.
6. Confirm the changes. The specified option appears in the list in the Type window. The program will remember what you recorded on its “dictaphone”.
7. After that, specify what, in fact, it should run to execute the command. Click the "Add" button, which looks like a hand with a "+" (plus) symbol.
8. Select the data format: files/utilities, Internet pages, some internal services OS. Check the boxes where you need them.
9. Find the app you want to launch with your voice. Let it be, for example, Microsoft Word. This way you can very quickly start editing some text or writing an article.
10. In the same window, write down the second part of the command. So that in total it turns out to be “open Word”. The first word will activate Typle, the second will enable the associated utility.
11. Click Add.
12. Several applications can be attached to one “open” function. This way you will control their launch without touching the mouse and other peripheral devices installed on the computer.
13. If necessary, edit additional parameters.
14. To check whether it worked or not, click on “Start speaking” and say the command.

The program works with the Russian language. But it doesn’t always recognize it correctly. You must speak loudly, clearly, in a mechanical voice.

• No knowledge of English required.
• Quickly create teams.

• No text recognition.
• Limited functionality. You can only open utilities and pages on the Internet.
• The program sometimes perceives extraneous noise as teams. Because of this, strange things happen on PC.
• You cannot work with the player.

Speechka

Another application for managing your computer

1. When you launch it for the first time, a window will open asking you to select a category: PC or Internet.
2. There is also an explanation of what key combination you need to activate the utility. This can be changed in the settings.
3. Click, for example, on “Internet”. A window will open with several input fields: for the command text and for the site URL. You can write the word “Yandex” and the address of this page.
4. Click "Add".
5. Press and hold the keys indicated on the main window.
6. Say the command so that the utility “remembers” it.

• Activation by both keys and sound volume.
• At startup, you can calibrate the microphone.

• Limited functionality.

Speaker

The interface is designed in a minimalist manner

Commands in the app are set using printed words rather than dictation. There is an internal text recognition mechanism. Main functions:

• Taking screenshots on command.
• Changing the keyboard layout on your computer.
• Opening applications and files.
• Shutdown.

• You don't have to make an audio recording with the team. The utility recognizes the inscriptions.

• To control you need to use the keyboard. If preset button used for other purposes - it will be inconvenient.
• You need a stable Internet connection.

Gorynych

The hero of Russian folk tales will help you

Program for controlling a computer with voice “Gorynych” - domestic product. Therefore, there is a “native” speech recognition module. It “adapts” to the user’s timbre and intonation. With the utility you can fully work in the system, and not just open files and web pages.

• There is support for Russian and English languages.
• Text recognising, voice input in any editors.
• Advanced functionality.

• You need to create commands for each process yourself. Literally, you will have to write down the dictionary.

Windows Speech Recognition

Program built into the English OS. To use it, you must have the appropriate language pack. Russian teams will not work with her. To control a PC with its help, you will have to speak its language. To access it in the Panel Windows settings Open the “Region and Language” menu (located in the “Clock, Language, Region” category) and set “English” in all tabs. If everything is correct and you have the required language pack installed, Windows will “turn” into English and the utility will become available. It is better not to try this method if you do not know a foreign language well.

This method is suitable if you speak English

Other utilities

There are a number of other applications for managing such commands:

• Browser extensions. Makes surfing the net easier. On Google Chrome already A similar function is built in - voice input into search forms. Some online maps have this option. It allows you to find an address faster.
• VoiceType.
• RealSpeaker.
• Web Speech.

List of programs for text recognition and dictation recording

Voice control is, of course, good. But they may turn out to be useful utilities for text recognition and dictation printing. When compiling lengthy reports and diplomas, it is easier to record your thoughts by voicing them into a microphone on a computer. Here are a few such utilities:

• Dictograph.
• Dragon Naturally Speaking.
• Perpetuum Mobile.

A product that allows you to dictate text to a computer

You can configure voice commands in the OS. To do this, the appropriate program must be installed on the computer. With it you can work on a PC while lying on the sofa or lounging in a chair. Your hands will be free. If the microphone is good and picks up even distant or quiet sounds, you won't need to sit next to him. You can simultaneously “talk” to the computer and write notes in a notebook, draw, or hold something. Yes, even sewing and knitting. It's much easier to interact with commands on a PC. To activate some of these utilities you need to press buttons on the keyboard, which is not very convenient.

But there are also negative aspects. If you accidentally say a command word, an application that is completely unnecessary now will open or the browser will inappropriately go to some site. What to use and whether to use it at all is up to you to decide.

One of the main tasks operating system Android is the simplest and most intuitive device control possible. With each update, more and more new features appear that significantly simplify use. One such feature is Android voice control.

Android voice control

Android voice control is innovative technology, with which you can control the device without unnecessary manipulations, but only with your voice. This feature is under development active development and improvements.

Ok, Google on Android makes it possible to use the device more efficiently. You can perform many functions with your voice and get high-quality results. For example, search necessary information, turn on/off applications and even type text. To date this development is not ideal and includes various shortcomings.

All commands that can be implemented using voice control are divided into two groups.

Namely:

1. control of the functions of the device itself - if you want to listen to music, then just say “Play playlist”, if you want to turn on the alarm, then say the phrase “Wake me up at such and such a time” and so on
2. search for information - voice request you can find out, for example, the weather, see the score of your favorite team’s game, find the lyrics to a song, and so on

But unfortunately, there are some limitations in the operation of voice control. Sometimes you may not be able to obtain information for unsolicited requests. For example, you are interested in the schedule of shows in Kyiv cinemas, and you will receive an answer without any problems, but if you ask the same request, but regarding a smaller city, then problems may arise and you may encounter a lack of information.

How to enable voice control

In order to use voice control Ok, Google, you need permanent connection to the Internet. In limited sizes, the application can work without the Internet, but the quality of voice recognition will be very poor and using the function will be almost impossible.

1. install the Google application, if you already have it installed, then make sure that it is the latest version
2. go to the Google app
3. in the upper left corner click the icon that looks like three horizontal lines
4. then go to “ Settings»
5. choose " Voice search »
6. after - " Recognition Ok, Google" or " On any screen»

On some devices, voice recognition is available in apps other than the Google app. For this purpose in Google program click:

1. « Settings»
2. Further - " Applications" There you will see a list of programs in which you can use Ok, Google

How to set up voice control

The Ok, Google function is always active provided that you have the Google application running or Google Chrome. After activation, the system will record your voice and there should be no problems with recognition in the future. To make a request, just say the phrase Ok, Google and formulate a question or command.

How to turn off voice control

Disabling Ok, Google is no more difficult than enabling it. To do this you need to do the following:

1. go to the Google app
2. in the upper left corner there is an icon that looks like three horizontal lines
3. choose " Voice search»
4. Further " Recognition Ok, Google»
5. remove the checkbox - " On any screen" or " Always on»

Voice commands

Ok, Google recognizes many different commands. There is no specific list of queries to be executed, since they are different for each user.

Here is a small list of commands that can be performed using voice control:

• call anyone from your contact list
• send text message
• send an email
• post on social networks
• to track the package
• launch the application
• find out the weather
• get directions to your destination
• find a place, company, establishment
• translate text from one language to another
• define a song and so on

Voice control does not work. What could be the reasons and how to fix it?

Make sure voice control is active: " Settings» - « Voice search» - « Recognition Okay, Google" Check the box - " From Google apps " Also for proper operation Voice control requires an internet connection. Make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi or mobile internet. Try rebooting your device.

A person approached me with a request to write a program that would allow him to control a computer mouse using his voice. Then I could not even imagine that an almost completely paralyzed person who cannot even turn his head, but can only talk, is capable of developing vigorous activity, helping himself and others to live an active life, gain new knowledge and skills, work and earn money. , communicate with other people around the world, participate in a social project competition.

Let me give here a couple of links to sites, the author and/or ideological inspirer of which is this person - Alexander Makarchuk from the city of Borisov, Belarus:

To work on the computer, Alexander used the “Vocal Joystick” program - developed by students at the University of Washington, funded by the National Scientific Foundation(NSF). See melodi.ee.washington.edu/vj

I could not resist

By the way, on the university website (http://www.washington.edu/) 90% of the articles are about money. It's hard to find anything about scientific work. Here, for example, are excerpts from the first page: “Tom, a university graduate, used to eat mushrooms and had difficulty paying his rent. Now he is a senior manager at an IT company and lends money to a university,” “Big Data helps the homeless,” “The company has committed to pay $5 million for a new academic building.”

Am I the only one who finds this annoying?

The program was made in 2005-2009 and worked well on Windows XP. In more latest versions Windows program may freeze, which is unacceptable for a person who cannot get up from his chair and restart it. Therefore, the program had to be redone.

There are no source texts, there are only individual publications that reveal the technologies on which it is based (MFCC, MLP - read about this in the second part).

It was written in the image and likeness new program(about three months).

Actually, you can see how it works:

Download the program and/or watch source codes Can .

You don’t need to perform any special actions to install the program, just click on it and run it. The only thing is that in some cases it is required that it be run as an administrator (for example, when working with virtual keyboard“Comfort Keys Pro”):

It's probably worth mentioning here other things I've previously done to make it possible to operate a computer hands-free.

If you have the ability to turn your head, a head-mounted gyroscope may be a good alternative to the eViacam. You will get fast and accurate cursor positioning and independence from lighting.

If you can only move the pupils of your eyes, then you can use a gaze direction tracker and a program for it (this may be difficult if you wear glasses).

Part II. How does it work?

From published materials about the Vocal Joystick program, it was known that it works as follows:

1. Cutting the audio stream into frames of 25 milliseconds with an overlap of 10 milliseconds
2. Receiving 13 cepstral coefficients (MFCC) for each frame
3. Verifying that one of the 6 stored sounds (4 vowels and 2 consonants) is pronounced using a multilayer perceptron (MLP)
4. Translating found sounds into mouse movements/clicks

The first task is notable only for the fact that to solve it in real time, three additional threads had to be introduced into the program, since reading data from the microphone, processing sound, playing sound through sound card occur asynchronously.

The last task is simply accomplished using the SendInput function.

It seems to me that the second and third problems are of greatest interest. So.

Task No. 2. Obtaining 13 cepstral coefficients

If anyone is not in the know, the main problem of recognizing sounds by a computer is the following: it is difficult to compare two sounds, since the two are dissimilar in outline sound waves may sound similar from a human perspective.

And among those involved in speech recognition, there is a search for the “philosopher’s stone” - a set of features that would unambiguously classify a sound wave.

Of those features that are available to the general public and described in textbooks, the most widely used are the so-called Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC).

Their history is such that they were originally intended for something completely different, namely, to suppress echo in the signal (an educational article on this topic was written by the respected Oppenheim and Schafer, may there be joy in the homes of these noble men. See A. V. Oppenheim and R. W. Schafer, “ From Frequency to Quefrency: A History of the Cepstrum".

But man is designed in such a way that he is inclined to use what is best known to him. And those who worked on speech signals came up with the idea of ​​using a ready-made compact representation of the signal in the form of MFCC. It turned out that, in general, it works. (One of my friends, a specialist in ventilation systems, when I asked him how to make a summerhouse, suggested using ventilation ducts. Simply because he knew them better than other building materials).

Are MFCCs a good classifier for sounds? I would not say. The same sound, pronounced by me into different microphones, ends up in different areas space of MFCC coefficients, and an ideal classifier would draw them side by side. Therefore, in particular, when changing the microphone, you must re-train the program.

This is just one of the projections of the 13-dimensional MFCC space into 3-dimensional space, but it also shows what I mean - the red, purple and blue points are derived from different microphones: (Plantronix, built-in microphone array, Jabra), but the sound was pronounced alone.

However, since I can’t offer anything better, I’ll also use standard method– calculation of MFCC coefficients.

In order not to make mistakes in the implementation, in the first versions of the program the code from well was used as a basis famous program CMU Sphinx, more precisely, its implementation in C, called pocketsphinx, developed at Carnegie Mellon University (peace be with them both! (c) Hottabych).

The pocketsphinx source codes are open, but the problem is that if you use them, you must write text in your program (both in the source code and in the executable module) containing, among other things, the following:

* This work was supported in part by funding from the Defense Advanced * Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation of the * United States of America, and the CMU Sphinx Speech Consortium.
This seemed unacceptable to me, and I had to rewrite the code. This affected the performance of the program (in better side, by the way, although the “readability” of the code has suffered somewhat). Largely thanks to the use of the “Intel Performance Primitives” libraries, but I also optimized some things myself, like the MEL filter. However, testing on test data showed that the obtained MFCC coefficients are completely similar to those obtained using, for example, the sphinx_fe utility.

In sphinxbase programs, the calculation of MFCC coefficients is carried out in the following steps:

Step	sphinxbase function	The essence of the operation
1	fe_pre_emphasis	Most of the previous reading is subtracted from the current reading (for example, 0.97 from its value). A primitive filter that rejects low frequencies.
2	fe_hamming_window	Hamming window – introduces attenuation at the beginning and end of the frame
3	fe_fft_real	Fast Fourier Transform
4	fe_spec2magnitude	From the usual spectrum we obtain the power spectrum, losing the phase
5	fe_mel_spec	We group the frequencies of the spectrum [for example, 256 pieces] into 40 piles, using the MEL scale and weighting coefficients
6	fe_mel_cep	We take the logarithm and apply the DCT2 transformation to the 40 values ​​from the previous step. We leave the first 13 values ​​of the result. There are several variants of DCT2 (HTK, legacy, classic), differing in the constant by which we divide the resulting coefficients, and a special constant for the zero coefficient. You can choose any option, it won’t change the essence.

These steps also include functions that allow you to separate the signal from noise and from silence, such as fe_track_snr, fe_vad_hangover, but we don’t need them, and we won’t be distracted by them.

The following substitutions were made for the steps to obtain the MFCC coefficients:

Task No. 3. Checking that one of the 6 memorized sounds is being pronounced

The original Vocal Joystick program used a multilayer perceptron (MLP) for classification - a neural network without newfangled bells and whistles.

Let's see how justified the use is neural network Here.

Let's remember what neurons do in artificial neural networks.

If a neuron has N inputs, then the neuron divides the N-dimensional space in half. Slashes backhand with a hyperplane. Moreover, in one half of the space it works (gives a positive answer), but in the other it does not work.

Let's look at the [practically] simplest option - a neuron with two inputs. It will naturally divide two-dimensional space in half.

Let the input be the values ​​X1 and X2, which the neuron multiplies by the weighting coefficients W1 and W2, and adds the free term C.

In total, at the output of the neuron (we denote it as Y) we get:

Y=X1*W1+X2*W2+C

(let’s skip the subtleties about sigmoid functions for now)

We consider that the neuron fires when Y>0. The straight line given by the equation 0=X1*W1+X2*W2+C precisely divides the space into a part where Y>0, and a part where Y<0.

Let us illustrate what has been said with specific numbers.

Let W1=1, W2=1, C=-5;

Now let's see how we can organize a neural network that would work in a certain area of ​​space, relatively speaking, a spot, and not work in all other places.

It can be seen from the figure that in order to outline an area in two-dimensional space, we need at least 3 straight lines, that is, 3 neurons connected to them.

We will combine these three neurons together using another layer, obtaining a multilayer neural network (MLP).

And if we need the neural network to work in two areas of space, then we will need at least three more neurons (4,5,6 in the figures):

And here you can’t do without a third layer:

And the third layer is almost Deep Learning...

Now let's turn to another example for help. Let our neural network produce a positive response on the red dots, and a negative response on the blue dots.

If I were asked to cut red from blue in straight lines, I would do it something like this:

But the neural network does not know a priori how many direct ones (neurons) it will need. This parameter must be set before training the network. And a person does this based on... intuition or trial and error.

If we select too few neurons in the first layer (three, for example), we can get a cut like this, which will give a lot of errors (the erroneous area is shaded):

But even if the number of neurons is sufficient, as a result of training the network may “fail to converge,” that is, reach some stable state that is far from optimal, when the percentage of errors is high. Like here, the top crossbar rests on two humps and won’t move away from them. And underneath there is a large area that generates errors:

Again, the possibility of such cases depends on the initial conditions of training and the sequence of training, that is, on random factors:

- What do you think, would that wheel, if it happened, reach Moscow or not?
- What do you think, will the neural network work or not?

There is another unpleasant moment associated with neural networks. Their "forgetfulness".

If you start feeding the network only blue dots, and stop feeding red ones, then it can easily grab a piece of the red area for itself, moving its borders there:

If neural networks have so many shortcomings, and a person can draw boundaries much more efficiently than a neural network, then why use them at all?

And there is one small but very significant detail.

I can very well separate the red heart from the blue background with straight line segments in two-dimensional space.

I can quite well separate the statue of Venus from the three-dimensional space surrounding it with planes.

But in four-dimensional space I can’t do anything, sorry. And in the 13th dimension - even more so.

But for a neural network, the dimension of space is not an obstacle. I laughed at her in small-dimensional spaces, but as soon as I went beyond the ordinary, she easily beat me down.

Nevertheless, the question is still open: how justified is the use of a neural network in this particular task, taking into account the disadvantages of neural networks listed above.

Let's forget for a second that our MFCC coefficients are in 13-dimensional space, and imagine that they are two-dimensional, that is, points on a plane. How could one separate one sound from another in this case?

Let the MFCC points of sound 1 have a standard deviation R1, which [roughly] means that the points that do not deviate too far from the mean, the most characteristic points, are inside a circle with a radius R1. In the same way, the points that we trust in sound 2 are located inside a circle with radius R2.

Attention, question: where to draw a straight line that would best separate sound 1 from sound 2?

The answer suggests itself: in the middle between the boundaries of the circles. Any objections? No objections.
Correction: In the program, this boundary divides the segment connecting the centers of the circles in the ratio R1:R2, which is more correct.

And finally, let's not forget that somewhere in space there is a point that represents complete silence in MFCC space. No, it's not 13 zeros, as it might seem. This is one point that cannot have a standard deviation. And the straight lines with which we cut it off from our three sounds can be drawn directly along the boundaries of the circles:

In the figure below, each sound corresponds to a piece of space of its own color, and we can always say which sound a particular point in space belongs to (or does not belong to any):

Well, okay, now let’s remember that space is 13-dimensional, and what was good to draw on paper now turns out to be something that does not fit into the human brain.

Yes, but not so. Fortunately, in space of any dimension there remain such concepts as a point, a straight line, a [hyper]plane, a [hyper]sphere.

We repeat all the same actions in 13-dimensional space: we find the dispersion, determine the radii of the [hyper]spheres, connect their centers with a straight line, cut it with a [hyper]plane at a point equally distant from the boundaries of the [hyper]spheres.

No neural network can more correctly separate one sound from another.

Here, however, a reservation should be made. All this is true if the information about sound is a cloud of points that deviate from the average equally in all directions, that is, it fits well into the hypersphere. If this cloud were a figure of complex shape, for example, a 13-dimensional curved sausage, then all the above reasoning would be incorrect. And perhaps, with proper training, the neural network could show its strengths here.

But I wouldn't risk it. And I would use, for example, sets of normal distributions (GMM), (which, by the way, is done in CMU Sphinx). It’s always more pleasant when you understand which specific algorithm led to the result. Not like in a neural network: The Oracle, based on its many hours of stewing over training data, tells you to decide that the requested sound is sound #3. (It especially bothers me when they try to entrust control of a car to a neural network. How then, in an unusual situation, can one understand why the car turned left and not right? Did the Almighty Neuron command?).

But sets of normal distributions are a separate large topic that is beyond the scope of this article.

I hope that the article was useful and/or made your brain squeak.

What geek doesn't dream of controlling a computer from the couch using just gestures and voice commands? Oddly enough, but this is already possible. And in the very near future, every second person will wave his hands in front of the monitor. The article discusses several methods and immediate prospects.

Voice control on Windows

Let's start with free software that allows you to control your computer using Russian speech. It will be possible to persuade him to open programs, perform some actions, and so on. And your hands will be free for more important matters.

Type

This program is the leader among programs that allow you to command a computer in your native Russian language. After installation, you will need to create a user and come up with a keyword like “Ok, Windows”, although we are advised to use the word “Open”. This is where we start talking, a familiar implementation in Google Glasses exists.

Then we select commands for the user. You can only add the launch of some programs, and when you click, you can additionally select a program and add an argument. Perhaps if you add something to the launch of the program, there will be actions. But in general, the average user will not be able to fully control the computer, no pauses or next track, just start and start.

Gesture control on a computer

Ever since the advent of the PlayStation®Eye Camera and kinect, people have wanted the same features on their computer. Later, Kinect was even sold to developers, but such a product was not announced for the general user. And there is even news that Kinect 2.0 with Xbox One will not work on a computer, but a special version of Kinect will be released for PC. True, without the appropriate software it is of little use. So let's move on to the software itself.

The most popular and accessible way to control gestures is the Flutter program and the corresponding Chrome extension. Almost any webcam will work with this program.

Quite a few functions, but they work very well. We can pause and continue showing our palm. Switch tracks or videos left or right, depending on where you point your finger. The program works in PowerPoint, VLC, Winamp, iTunes, YouTube and several other services that few people use.

For proper operation, it is advisable to be at a distance from the webcam, but not at random. Lying down turns out to be much less controllable than sitting upright. Personally, I only use it on YouTube when my hands are dirty, it’s quite convenient or when you’re lying down. There have been no random movements yet. But there are still mistakes when you just sit and wave your hands in front of the monitor like a complete idiot.

Surely Flutter will soon receive full support for Chrome, because the startup was bought by Google in October 2013.

Leap Motion

Let's move on from software to devices. Leap Motion inspires confidence with its small size and amount of potential. This thing detects the user's hands, or rather, even each finger. Your own store with a bunch of applications and games doesn’t let you get bored. And most importantly, it is already on sale and costs some 5,000 rubles. Not much for such magic.

But, in fact, there are many disadvantages here. There were discussions on the hub and even the opinion of one of the users. You should always keep your hands with your wrist up over the device, do you think it’s easy? Hold for 5 minutes.

As for the applications, there is also a big minus that all the free ones are buggy and crash. And the games are a bunch of incomprehensible LSD trips. And it’s inconvenient to control, accuracy plays out in the opposite direction, and every incorrect hand movement leads to an unforeseen consequence.

And the driver for Leap Motion itself will eat up almost all your resources on your computer. But if this doesn’t stop you, then buy, as always, at the office. website. It's even in Russian.

DUO 3D

Similar technology from Russian developers also exists. They simply took two Eye Cameras, wrote software and started a company on Kickstarter. Unfortunately, it was a failure. We raised $62,000 out of $110,000 planned. It’s a shame, especially since they won’t even receive this money, since everything needs to be collected for it to arrive.

Now the devices are even freely available, but we hope that such developments of our people will not just disappear.

Myo

Come on, who hasn't heard of Myo. A bracelet that detects gestures not using a camera, like its competitors, but by recognizing muscle movements. The beautiful video and amazing features captivated everyone, even me. As soon as the bracelet is on sale, the applications and all the integrations will be known, reviews will appear, then I will buy this wonderful thing.

Now the bracelet can be pre-ordered for $150, but I'm afraid to get the raw version.

Computer control from a web camera on laptops

Nowadays, laptop makers love to experiment with gesture controls. The PointGrab company has made progress in this topic; their concept art is quite optimistic.

Acer uses the products of this company. And Lenovo will make its own Motion Control 2.0 based on these developments.

And in September 2013, Intel announced new laptops with voice control, gesture control, and touch, and before that in the summer the company acquired the Israeli startup Omek.

Let's see what comes of all this. Lately I have had an eternal feeling that the future is just around the corner and has been for a couple of years now. Can you supplement my material with your knowledge? Are there any other devices or methods that are also worth mentioning?