Notes

Muscle-sensing Myo Gesture Armband will be Available on Amazon this Quarter.

Thalmic Labs announced that it will be reaching out to the masses via Amazon this quarter, just one year after we first tested the Myo. The armband that senses muscle movement is available for pre-order on the website of the company, will cost $199. But even before that, Thalmic Labs has already sold more than 50,000 pre-orders (with approximately half shipped to buyers as of now) and that's an excellent endorsement to some of the use case examples showed off by Thalmic Labs and its several partners.



Gallery: Thalmic Labs Myo armband at CES 2015



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If you're not familiar with the Myo it is comprised of eight modules that you attach to the broadest part of your forearm, which will then allow the device to recognize your hand gestures. This includes squeezing your fist, spreading your hands, waving your hand to the left or right, rotating your fist, or something as minute as a quick pinch of your thumb and a second finger (which can be programmed to either activate or stop the Myo). A gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer are all available to measure arm movement.



There is no power button on the Myo It will wake up the moment you pick it up and then will automatically go back to sleep if you leave it alone for a while. A single charge can last somewhere between 10 to 14 hours if you use it regularly, which is impressive.



Bluetooth LE is used to communicate with the Myo Connect application. This app feeds motion input back to the device or program that you are controlling. Thalmic Labs demo room featured the Myo to control the playback of videos volume, playback, and race the sun, a fun game that focuses on flight-based obstacle avoidance, and an Orbotix Ollie rolling robot. With the exception of connectivity issues with the Ollie and the difficult nature of the game's scenario, most of these scenarios were very simple for us.



We've seen Myo demos that include PowerPoint, iTunes and Call Of Duty. Users will be able to download apps "connectors" from the Myo Market to try out the various use cases and to control Spotify, Netflix, Sonos plus popular games like Minecraft and Saints Row IV.



Thalmic Labs had impressive displays just prior to CES. In November, the company introduced TedCas' Myo integration, which allows surgeons to manipulate medical images without touching a monitor or a pointed device. In the following month, Haute Technique shared its story about how it allowed Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren use the armband to control stage lights at his concerts. It will be interesting to see what people who are behind the gesture cameras have to come up with, given that companies are betting big on gesture control.



Update: The product page is now live on Amazon.
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