CoreDAR's Glamos Brings LiDAR Into the Home and Office for Gaming, Presentations, and More
Using CoreDAR's compact LiDAR technology, Glamos claims to turn anything from a smartphone to a big screen projection into a touchscreen.
Former Samsung engineer Charles Lee has taken to Kickstarter to fund production of Glamos, a compact system to turn any display into a touch screen using LiDAR technology from his company CoreDAR.
There are a range of methods for adding touch technology to displays. Early examples relied on infrared sensors located in the frame, waiting for a finger to break a beam; later came resistive touch layers, then the modern capacitive touch. For touch and gesture control of a display in the distance, though, you're usually relying on camera technology — but CoreDAR states its Glamos add-on offers better accuracy and a more compact design through the use of laser-based LiDAR sensing.
“We are convinced that LiDAR technology is a solution to the shortcomings of motion recognition technology using cameras,” Lee explains. "We will be able to create new markets."
Glamos is billed as a tiny box which, when sat in front of any display device, adds touch- and gesture-based control — without modifying the display itself. The gadget is claimed to offer a 180 degree field-of-view, can detect "mid-air touch" rather than simply tracking motion or requiring the user to physically touch the display, and supports display sizes from smartphone-size up to 6x3 feet.
Lee and colleagues are positioning Glamos as suitable for a range of use cases, from turning any existing mobile game into a Nintendo Wii-style motion-controlled title through to enabling no-touch control of smart devices and TVs, easing presentations in the office, enhancing collaborative work, and even allowing for better operation of industrial systems.
The company is looking to fund production of two Glamos variants: Glamos Basic is connected to a host device via a micro-USB cable; Glamos Pro, meanwhile, opts for a wireless Bluetooth connection.
Pricing starts at $119 for the Glamos Basic and $139 for the Glamos Pro, without quantity or Early Bird discounts; more information is available on the project's Kickstarter campaign page. The first deliveries are expected to take place in July this year.