GestureTek is an American-based interactive technology company headquartered in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

, California, with offices in Toronto and

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Ontario and Asia.

Founding

Founded in 1986 by Canadians Vincent John Vincent and Francis MacDougall, this privately held company develops and licenses

gesture recognition Gesture recognition is an area of research and development in computer science and language technology concerned with the recognition and interpretation of human gestures. A subdiscipline of computer vision, it employs mathematical algorithms to ...

software based on

computer vision Computer vision tasks include methods for image sensor, acquiring, Image processing, processing, Image analysis, analyzing, and understanding digital images, and extraction of high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical ...

techniques. The partners invented video gesture control in 1986 and received their base patent in 1996 for the GestPoint video gesture control system. GestPoint technology is a camera-enabled

video tracking Video tracking is the process of locating a moving object (or multiple objects) over time using a camera. It has a variety of uses, some of which are: human-computer interaction, security and surveillance, video communication and compression, a ...

software system that translates hand and body movement into computer control. The system enables users to navigate and control interactive multi-media and menu-based content, engage in virtual reality game play, experience

immersion Immersion may refer to: The arts * "Immersion", a 2012 story by Aliette de Bodard * ''Immersion'', a French comic book series by Léo Quievreux * ''Immersion'' (album), the third album by Australian group Pendulum * ''Immersion'' (film), a 2021 ...

in an

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

environment or interact with a consumer device (such a television, mobile phone or set top box) without using touch-based peripherals. Similar companies include gesture recognition specialist LM3LABS based in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Technology

GestureTek's gesture interface applications include multi-touch and 3D camera tracking. GestureTek's

multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CE ...

technology powers the multi-touch table in Melbourne's

Eureka Tower Eureka Tower is a skyscraper located in the Southbank precinct of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction began in August 2002 and the exterior was completed on 1 June 2006. The plaza was finished in June 2006 and the building was offici ...

. A GestureTek multi-touch table with

object recognition Object recognition – technology in the field of computer vision for finding and identifying objects in an image or video sequence. Humans recognize a multitude of objects in images with little effort, despite the fact that the image of the ...

is found at the New York City Visitors Center. Telefónica has a

window with technology from GestureTek. GestureTek's 3D tracking technology is used in a

3D television 3D television (3DTV) is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopy, stereoscopic display, free viewpoint television, multi-view display, or any other form of 3D display. Most modern 3D te ...

prototype from Hitachi and various digital signage and display solutions based on 3D interaction.

Patents

GestureTek currently has 8 patents awarded, including: 5,534,917 (Video Gesture Control Motion Detection); 7,058,204 (Multiple Camera Control System, Point to Control Base Patent); 7,421,093 (Multiple Camera Tracking System for Interfacing With an Application); 7,227,526 (Stereo Camera Control, 3D-Vision Image Control System); 7,379,563 (Two-Handed Movement Tracker Tracking Bi-Manual Movements); 7,379,566 (Optical Flow-Based Tilt Sensor For Phone Tilt Control); 7,389,591 (Phone Tilt for Typing & Menus/Orientation-Sensitive Signal Output); 7,430,312 (Five Camera 3D Face Capture). GestureTek's software and patents have been licensed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

for the EyeToy, NTT DoCoMo for their mobile phones and

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

for the ION Educational Gaming System. In addition to software provision, GestureTek also fabricates interactive gesture control display systems with

natural user interface In computing, a natural user interface (NUI) or natural interface is a user interface that is effectively invisible, and remains invisible as the user continuously learns increasingly complex interactions. The word "natural" is used because most c ...

for interactive advertising, games and presentations. In addition, GestureTek's natural user interface virtual reality system has been the subject of research by universities and hospitals for its application in both

physical therapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

and

physical rehabilitation Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease prevention, ...

. In 2008, GestureTek received the Mobile Innovation Global Award from the GSMA for its software-based, gesture-controlled user interface for mobile games and applications. The technology is used by Java platform integration providers and mobile developers.

Katamari Damacy () is a 2004 action-puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. The game's plot concerns a diminutive prince on a mission to rebuild stars, constellations, and the Moon, which were inadvertently destroyed by his f ...

is one example of a gesture control mobile game powered by GestureTek software.

Competitors

Other companies in the industry of interactive projections for marketing and retail experiences include Po-motion Inc., Touchmagix and LM3LABS.
LM3LABS blog
'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gesturetek Applications of artificial intelligence Technology companies of the United States Multimedia frameworks Gesture recognition Technology companies established in 1986