In 1963 Douglas Englebart invented the first mouse prototype. Unfortunately for him, the devices took so long to become widely used that he didn’t get the recognition he deserved and received no royalties for his contribution. Can you imagine using a computer without a mouse these days? Well, if you think about it, maybe you can - you’re one of the hundreds of millions of people that use touch-pads on laptops and desktops.
This is just the beginning of what is possible today. Better yet, the bright future in computer interfaces lies beyond touch; space-based gestures made possible with computer vision is a reality and will be featured in future operating systems. We’re seeing the beginning of this trend with the Microsoft Kinect, but if you think that all that can come from this is dancing in front of your computer to make the mouse cursor move, you might be surprised. This panel session will discuss current technologies in computer interfaces from touch tables to high-resolution visualization environments, and what is possible now in research environments.