Let your muscles do the talking. The real gesture control device is coming!

Fist fight, arm wrestling, MMA these are the fields where we might need to flex a few muscles to get the work done, but with time changes the needs of the people and the tools and services that serve to these needs also changes. In this age of information a new field has emerged where you might need your muscles to do the talking, that field is ‘Gesture control’.

A Canadian start-up Thalmic Labs have developed an innovative and revolutionary armband which might pave the way for the future of user-interfaces. The Myo armband is a unique gesture control band which allows you to wirelessly control gadgets such as tablets, computers, cell phones, camera or even the Oculus Rift VR headset.

Unlike most gesture control console that use a combination of sensors and cameras to detect motion, Mayo’s armband straightaway reads the user’s muscle movements. Yes, your muscles do the talking, Myo can detect the electrical impulse sent through the arm’s muscle tissues and translates them into digital inputs for devices. Implying, with a slight wave of your hand you can interact with your digital pets! Detailed specs, functioning: The million dollar question that might give your head, bit of a scratch is “How??”. So let me save you the misery. Myo uses a variety of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometer to gather up intel on your muscle activity. This allows the bracelet to tell whether you are clenching a fist, flicking your wrist, swaying side to side, it is able to detect all sorts of gesture even individual finger movement making it a very precise gear.

The precision adds a lot of potential to the device, giving the user a lot of mobility as you don’t have to stand within a camera peripheral, no hovering your arms in a particular manner. It can be controlled from any part of the room, in any manner you wish to and no need to strain your fists by clenching, or moving your arms violently. Shedding the camera based gesture controls awards the users with a great deal of freedom & greater control over your devices.

Looks: The latest commercial design is an upgrade of Myo Alpha, an early version of the Myo armband for developers. It looked like a bulky bracelet with an elastic to suit any arm size. Whereas the latest commercial design is thinner, lighter and sheds all the bulkiness. It is essentially a series of black cuboids with flexible housing holding it together, a single size can expand and contract to fit the user’s arm.

Tagged at $149 the Myo armband (commercial version) is expected to begin shipping in September this year. Last but not the least a little gift for all the spec freaks out there:

• 93 grams
• 11.5mm thick
• Medical Grade Stainless Steel
• come in black and white
• ARM Cortex M4 Processor
• Haptic feedback
• Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy
• Nine-axis IMU containing: three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer, three-axis magnetometer
• Micro-USB charging
• Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery