I have begun experimenting with a MYO gesture controlled armband. MYO, by Thalmic Labs, is just one of many wearable technologies that has made a relatively early entry onto the consumer market.
The MYO armband reads electrical activity from your muscles allowing the user to control various digital technologies through Bluetooth. Currently MYO is compatible with IOS, Android, Mac and Windows operating systems.
There are a series of gestures the MYO understands, developers are able to read these gestures to program to them. Out of the box the MYO can control things like iTunes playback, PowerPoint, and Netflix, however it’s really potentially is left open to developers who have access to the free MYO SDK. Thalmic Labs currently has an online Marketplace in beta to allow developers to distribute their creations.
When I first received MYO a beta, gesture recognition seemed a bit hinky, but regular software and firmware updates seem to improve things. Currently I have only written some basic experimental IOS projects, however I am hoping to play some more and maybe find ways to incorporate the technology into something interesting and beneficial.
