Minority-Report Like Gloves Let You Write By Drawing Letters in the Air

When it comes to entering data on a smartphone, your input choices are limited to either a physical or virtual keyboard. But a new Minority Report-style option might be on the horizon. A team of computer scientists in Germany are working on a set of gloves that will let you write by drawing letters in the air.

According to Gizmag, the user slips on the gloves and uses the "airwriting" system instead of typing. Thanks to accelerometers and gyroscopes built into the gloves, the system can sense hand movements. The movements are sent to a computer and translated to letters with a pattern recognition software. From there, the text can be placed into an email or text message.

The system currently has an error rate of 11 percent. However as it begins to learn a person's airwriting style that number can drop to 3 percent. The  project is still in the experimental phases, but there are hopes to place the technology into a smaller, everyday use form like a wristband.

While there's no word on when the public will get its hands on a working model, some are already thinking of potential uses. Christoph Amma, the person who developed the technology is looking towards integration with smartphones and possibly Google Glass.

Sherri L. Smith
Editor in Chief

Sherri L. Smith has been cranking out product reviews for Laptopmag.com since 2011. In that time, she's reviewed more than her share of laptops, tablets, smartphones and everything in between. The resident gamer and audio junkie, Sherri was previously a managing editor for Black Web 2.0 and contributed to BET.Com and Popgadget.