Notes

Amazon will have the Muscle-sensing Myo Geo Gesture Armband Available in Quarter One

Thalmic Labs announced that it will be reaching out to the masses via Amazon this quarter, just one year after we first tried the Myo. The muscle-sensing gesture control armband is available for pre-order on the website of the company, will cost $199. Thalmic Labs already sold over 50,000 pre-orders, with about half of them being delivered to customers. This is a great confirmation of the applications Thalmic Labs and its partners have demonstrated.



Gallery: Thalmic Labs Myo armband at CES 2015



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For those who aren't already familiar with the Myo It is made up of eight sensors for muscle that you attach to the broadest part of your forearm. This then lets the device detect your hand movements. These gestures include stretching your hands, squeezing or waving your hands left and right, turning your forearm, or a quick pinch with another finger (which can be used to turn on or pause your Myo). An accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer are all able to detect arm motion.



The Myo has no power button. It starts to wake up the moment when you touch it and automatically goes to sleep in the event that it is left to its own. If you use it continuously the battery should last between 10 to 14 hours. This is quite impressive.



The communication protocol relies on Bluetooth LE, and there's a Myo Connect app that feeds the motion input back to whichever device or program you're controlling. In Thalmic Labs' demo room we had the opportunity to use the Myo to control the volume and playback of video on a computer, an Orbotix Ollie rolling robot, and Race The Sun, an thrilling flight-based obstacle avoidance game. Except for the connectivity issue with the Ollie and the difficulty of the game, the majority of these scenarios were easy for us.



We've seen Myo demos involving PowerPoint, iTunes, Call Of Duty, Parrot AR.Drone and several smart glassess. Users will be able to download app "connectors" from the Myo Market to try out some of these applications and for controlling Spotify, Netflix, Sonos as well as popular games like Minecraft and Saints Row IV.



Thalmic Labs had impressive displays just prior to CES. The company's Myo integration was introduced in November by TedCas. This allows surgeons to alter images from medical devices without touching screens. Blog Haute Technique shared the story of how it allowed Armin van Buuren who is a Dutch DJ who uses the armband as a controller for the stage lighting during his shows. It'll be interesting to see what people behind the gesture cameras come up with, since companies are investing heavily in gesture control.



Update The product page is now live on Amazon.


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