Leap Motion
| Industry | Motion Control |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founder | Michael Buckwald David Holz |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Website | LeapMotion.com |
Leap Motion is a startup developing advanced motion sensing technology for human-computer interaction. Originally inspired by frustration surrounding the unintuitive nature of computer programs for 3D modeling, Leap Motion's new approach to motion control promises to be accurate and responsive enough to enable functionality such as sculpting a virtual piece of clay in 3D.[1]
History
Founded in 2010 as OcuSpec, the startup raised a $1.3M seed financing round in June 2011 with investments from venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund as well as several angel investors.[2] In May 2012, Leap Motion raised $12.75M in Series A funding led by Highland Capital Partners with participation from existing investors.[3] After operating in stealth mode for three years, on May 21, 2012 Leap Motion publicly announced its first product, The Leap.[4]
Technology
The Leap is a small USB peripheral designed to rest on a user's desk facing upward, thereby creating a 3D interaction space of roughly 8 cubic feet. Inside this space, The Leap is capable of tracking hands and fingers as well as tools such as pens, pencils, and chopsticks with very high accuracy.[1] This differentiates the product from the Kinect, which more suitable for whole-body tracking in an space the size of a living room.
In a demonstration to CNET, The Leap was shown to perform tasks such as navigating a website, using pinch-to-zoom gestures on maps, high-precision drawing, and manipulating complex 3D data visualizations.[4] Leap Motion CEO Michael Buckwald told CNET:
"We want there to be world-changing applications that fundamentally transform how people interact with their operating system or browse the Web.... The goal is to fundamentally transform how people interact with computers and to do so in the same way that the mouse did, which means that the transformation affects everyone, both from the most basic use case all the way up to the most advanced use cases you can imagine for computing technology."
Leap Motion plans to distribute thousands of units for free to developers who are interested in creating applications for the device, followed by a consumer launch with a price of $70.[1]
References
- ^ a b c https://live.leapmotion.com/about/#faq
- ^ http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/10/ocuspec-raises-1-3m-from-andreessen-and-others-to-build-an-affordable-kinect/
- ^ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/leap-motion-announces-1275-million-series-a-funding-round-led-by-highland-capital-partners-2012-05-09
- ^ a b http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57437404-76/leap-motion-3d-hands-free-motion-control-unbound/