Gesture Recognition Company, Taking on Home Control, Talking With Cable Operators
Hoping to do what some technology companies haven’t successfully done, Israeli gesture recognition company EyeSight is bringing to market a plug-in device that controls connected devices by finger motions. The AC-powered device, which resembles a horizontal portable speaker, has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios, an infrared code database for 150,000 devices, and computer vision software and sensors, CEO Gideon Shmuel told us on a press tour in New York.
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Calling the SingleCue a “new, smarter, fun way to control devices in the home,” Shmuel said the gesture-based device’s distinctiveness is combining infrared control of legacy products -- TVs, set-top boxes and soundbars -- with control of contemporary digital devices such as media streamers and smart LED bulbs. In a typical home entertainment setting, devices are supposed to work together, “but you have to operate them separately,” Vice President-Product Management Tal Krzypow said. “We bind these devices into one experience and activity," Krzypow said. When one launches cable activity, "the TV turns on, the set-top box turns on, your soundbar … and the TV switches to the right input,” Krzypow said. Gesture is the featured control method in SingleCue at launch, and the company plans to open the platform to voice and other sensing technologies, Krzypow said.
EyeSight has sights set on broader automation and the automotive space, Shmuel said. The company works with AMD, Lenovo, Philips and Toshiba on embedded solutions for gesture control, he said. In cars, the company's software could be used to sense a nodding head or even the emotion of anger. Years ahead, that could trigger the car to insert space between the vehicle and the next one ahead, Shmuel said.
Companies that make smart hubs that connect to an app and devices are talking to EyeSight about incorporating gesture control into their products. The company wants to have original equipment manufacturer agreements with service providers. “We’re already in discussions with big cable companies to incorporate our functionality into their set-top boxes,” Shmuel said.