A key trend to emerge from this year's Consumer Electronics Show has been a shift towards natural user interfaces that harness touch, voice and motion.
From eye-controlled laptops to motion-controlled TVs, keyboards and remote controls could soon become antiquated.
Consumer Electronics Association analyst Shawn DuBravac declared 2012 as “The Year of the Interface” predicting that more devices and applications will be getting voice and/or gesture-driven UIs.
Speaking at a press conference early this week, DuBravac used a TV remote control as an example of a product that has been over-engineered. According to DuBravac, such devices will be overhauled this year in favour of simplicity.
A pioneer in the natural user interface space is Tobii Technology, which has showcased the first eye-controlled laptop at this year's CES.
While eye-tracking technology has been available for a number of years, it is only now finding its way to the consumer gadget market.
The eye-controlled laptop currently uses the Windows 8 interface and allows users to switch between windows, zoom in and select applications by just focusing their gaze on the screen.
Tobii Technology also currently has an eye-controlled arcade game, that lets users shoot at asteroids just by looking at them.
Natural gaze
Business development manager for Tobii Technology, Anders Olsson, says gaze is always the ideal way to point on a computer screen.
“Laptops do not offer touch functionality and even if they did, touching a vertical surface is both tiresome and awkward. It also doesn't feel natural to move around the start screen using a mouse pointer,” says Olsson, adding that the large tiles of the Windows 8 interface are ideal for gaze control.
“With gaze you simply need to look at the app you want to launch. This is both natural and easy as you anyway look at what you want to do.”
More subtle UI updates displayed at CES include Intel's new ultrabooks that feature tilt sensors for the controlling of video games, as well as built-in credit card readers with tap-and-go technology.
Significantly, Intel has also announced a partnership with Nuance, which is expected to bring voice control to laptops. According to reports, the voice control will be built into the computers and will be able to learn users' accents.
In the motion control space, Microsoft's Kinect has already seen considerable success in the consumer market with its use of gestures and voice commands to control gaming. The Kinect controller for Xbox will be made available on the Windows operating system in February.
Out with remotes
Following Kinect's lead, major manufacturers such as Lenovo, Samsung and LG have announced the inclusion of natural UI technologies such as gesture and facial recognition, as well as voice control for the new generation of smart TVs. Apple is also widely expected to unveil a Siri-controlled TV this year.
LG has also unveiled its own smart TVs with voice and gesture features in addition to the “magic wand” motion controller.
Lenovo's K91 Smart TV runs Android's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and also has voice and facial recognition to control viewing.
Not to be outdone, Samsung has unveiled smart TVs with built-in HD cameras and dual microphones for the recognition of motion and voice commands.
According to Samsung, TV remotes will soon be obsolete as natural user interface technology takes precedence.
Saying “Hi TV” will reportedly activate voice control, while a wave of the hand can adjust volume.
In a statement from Samsung, executive VP Hyun-suk Kim says: “Samsung is redefining what a TV can do so people can use more intuitive ways to control their entertainment experiences, maintain closer contact to people that are important to them, and easily manage and share content across multiple screens.”
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