Hitachi Chooses Canesta's 3D Sensor Chip to Power World's First Gesture Controlled TV

Not Just Hand Waving, Proof-of-Concept Prototype to Show at Winter CES

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Canesta, the pioneer in low-cost, single-chip-based 3D sensors, announced today that it has collaborated with consumer electronics giant Hitachi to create the world’s first television that can be controlled by open-air hand gestures, rather than by the familiar hand-held remote control. The novel prototype, which uses a tiny Canesta 3D sensor for gesture recognition, will be unveiled to U.S. consumers this week at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) being held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Visitors to the Hitachi booth will be able to control the TV at distances up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) by simple hand gestures. For example, a rapid wave will power up the set, and a circular motion will change either the video source or the channel. The technology can also discriminate between single- and two-hand gestures, providing additional command options. Because of the underlying Canesta 3D sensor’s immunity to extremes in room lighting or décor, the interface will work equally well in any room or outside environment.

“The touchless, gesture-based interface is one of the most exciting projects that the Hitachi Consumer Business Group has worked on in some time,” said Hiroyuki Mizukami, chief technology officer of that group and general manager of the Hitachi, Ltd. Consumer Electronics Laboratory. “Consumers have shown a growing preference for the multi-touch, gestural interface pioneered by the iPhone®, but that is only appropriate for small devices in your hand or embedded in a surface. For control of entertainment devices across the room, such as a television or multi-media center, the next logical step is gestures in open air.”

Mizukami said that consumers have been increasingly preconditioned to gestural interfaces since they were first widely imagined in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Minority Report, in which John Anderton operated a complex forensic computer display simply by moving his hands in thin air. Since that time, such interfaces have been increasingly showcased in weekly television dramas, such as the Emmy® award-winning CSI: Miami, to the point where many consumers assume they are commonplace. “We believe that it is only a matter of time until gestural interfaces are found in virtually every living room,” says Mizukami.

The challenges in creating an open-air gestural interface revolve around reliably separating out an individual from the surrounding environment – continuously, and in real time. Methods that rely upon pure imaging, such as those using one or more video camera chips, all fail in one way or another, depending upon the specific technology. By contrast, the Canesta sensor is a true 3D sensor; it produces a real-time, continuously-varying “depth map” of the local environment, with an accurate distance measurement – within the resolution of the device – to each individual feature in the scene.

This means, in particular, that the right hand of a user held in front of a sweatshirt imprinted with life-size hands, and standing in front of a mural of life-sized people, is easily discriminated.

In the case of this Hitachi prototype, an independent Canesta sensor sends a stream of 3D information at 30 “frames” per second to the TV’s microcontroller. There, gesture-recognition software translates the moving depth maps into gestures, and those gestures into commands for the set.

Hitachi linked up with Canesta because the chip’s features and performance made it unique among alternative technologies considered. In addition, the interface that the Canesta sensor enables can be generalized to other types of consumer devices.

Canesta’s president Jim Spare sees Hitachi’s new television as trendsetting. “Once consumers have experienced the fun and ease of use of the touchless, gestural interface, it will become a must-have for the home media center,” he says. Spare believes that media-centric PCs, and “intelligent TVs” that transparently support broadcast, cable, and Internet video will be the early adopters of the technology. “It will be seen as a competitive advantage,” he predicts.

Spare also reported that the chip is seeing widespread development activity in other areas, such automotive safety applications, where a vehicle can benefit from a true 3D awareness of its surroundings.

Canesta’s single chip low-cost 3D sensor is built with standard CMOS chip technology. “The goal is to provide value-added solutions that can provide leading-edge manufacturers like Hitachi with clear market differentiation, but at a very nominal increases in variable costs,” said Spare. He also credits Hitachi for their innovative thinking and market leadership. “The development of the gesture-based television is truly a landmark event, and Hitachi is to be congratulated,” he said.

The Hitachi gesture-recognition television prototype can be seen during the Consumer Electronics Show, at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Central Hall, Booth #10417.