Gesture and motion control will become vital for certain forms of human-computer interaction in the coming years.
This is according to Juniper Research study: Gesture, Motion & Haptics: Future Use Cases, Shipments & Revenue Forecasts 2016-2021, which notes the use of the technology in smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) will be particularly important in driving up usage.
Juniper defines gesture control as a method of human-machine interface whereby the executed inputs are motions or gestures made in air by the user.
The study forecasts 128 million gesture and motion control devices by the end of 2016, rising to 492 million by 2020, led by companies like Leap Motion and Thalmic Labs.
On the other hand, Global Industry Analyst expects the global market for gesture recognition to exceed $12.7 billion by 2020, driven by technology advancements, high accuracy and convenience attributes, expanding applications, and the proliferation of consumer electronic devices.
Research and Markets says booming consumer electronics, retail, automotive and other end-user segments are fuelling growth in global touch-free intuitive gesture control market.
According to Global Industry Analyst, the US represents the largest market worldwide with Asia-Pacific ranked as the fastest-growing market with a compound annual growth rate of 5.2% over the 2015-2020 period.
Juniper Research expects nearly 50% of all wearables and almost all VR to use gesture technology by 2021.
However, the study notes although the technologies are redefining emerging computer interactions, there is a need for a major reinvention to go mainstream.
For more established platforms like personal computers and smartphones, usage will remain low, with fewer than 5% of such devices using gesture control by that time, it adds.
VR and wearables have shown the way that gesture and haptics can provide fresh ways to interact with technology, says research author James Moar.
"The game changer for other platforms will be when technology firms are brave enough to reinvent their user interface to incorporate gesture and motion control, rather than considering it an optional add-on."
However, PWC says today, all of the interaction technologies - like gesture tracking, motion tracking and eye tracking - re merely isolated components, and innovators are still learning to build with them.
In the future, those components will likely come together under a common interaction fabric that developers take advantage of and that users use to intuitively interact with physical items and digital items in the physical spaces where they work, it adds.
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