UMotio: An Arduino Compatible 3D Gesture Controller

uMotio

The Mooltipass project USB code contributor [Tom] and his friend [Ignatius] recently launched their Indiegogo campaign: meet the 3D gesture controller uMotio (Indiegogo link). As [Tom] has been spending much of his personal time helping the Mooltipass community, we figured that a nice way to thank him would be to try making their great open project one step closer to a disseminated product.

As you can see in the video embedded after the break, the uMotio is a plug and play system (detected as a USB HID joystick & keyboard with a CDC port) that can be used in many different scenarios: gaming, computer control, domotics, music, etc… The platform is based around an ATMega32u4 and the much discussed MGC3130 3D tracking and gesture controller. This allows a 0 to 15cm detection range with a resolution of up to 150dpi. uMotio is Arduino compatible so adapting it to your particular project can be done in no time especially using its dedicated expansion header and libraries. The uMotio blue even integrates an internal Li-ion battery and a Bluetooth Low Energy module.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4TGDb1Fyg

16 thoughts on “UMotio: An Arduino Compatible 3D Gesture Controller

        1. Hi there! I’m the ootsidebox project founder and I can attest that it’s an open source / open hard ware projet (in the form of an Arduino shield). You’ve got a full description in the Elektor magazine – May edition. Also I’ll lauch the 3Dpad project on Indiegogo near May 15th and the source code will be hosted @ github. In the meantime take a look here: http://www.elektor-labs.com/project/3d-pad-control-without-touching-130508.13850.html , and also: http://www.elektor.com/news/may-2014-edition-of-elektor-magazine-now-available/
          Feel free to get in touch directly with me on Twitter: @junowhynot

  1. I’ve seen a lot of camera based gesture control setups. But why aren’t there as many gesture control systems that use a small bluetooth device, like a ring or light wristband, instead? A couples of receivers should be able to pinpoint the device position exactly, regardless of other motions and regardless of how bright/dark the room is. It could even work when you’re in a different room from the computer. Is it only me that have missed a lot of such devices or is there some technical obstacle that prevents them from being created?

      1. That was new to me. (I realize it may sound as if I made a cheese feigned question to push exactly that just released product, but really I didn’t, gotta believe me folks!) Very pricey though! I bet a simple version of that kind of product could be hacked together for much less. Still, promising product.

  2. Hi, yes the uMotio is open source and open hardware. Everything will be available on github when finalized. With the uMotio we did not simply design a shield but included a fully hackable arduino all in a single package.

  3. Great to finally see projects like these where gestures can be incorporated into Arduino projects. A friend and I were frustrated with using proximity sensors and IR based sensors to ‘track’ hand movements. So we decided to create our own and just launched a project hoping it might help other folks out there. We didn’t make a shield or anything because we wanted to make a minimal product and get it into the hands of users asap. If you’re interested, see our project page for more info: gethover.com

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