Touch input is constrained, typically only providing X/Y coordinates. Air-Touch project suggests new sensing technology, extending the interaction space to X/Y/Z coordinates.

 

Air-Touch technology detects the finger/hand position from between 1 cm and 10 cm above the touch panel of a tablet PC and estimates the z-direction velocity of hand movement. This technology supports three input states: Touch, No-Touch, and Air-Touch, and provides two types of motion inputs according to the estimated velocity: Slow and Fast Air-Touch. 

 

As a work-in-progress project, we've completed the sensing technology and plan to develop an application.