The first gestural remote device we saw go mainstream was Wii, Nintendo’s revolutionary gaming system that broke the 4th wall of at-home entertainment. Of course there are other devices that paved the way (cut to passionate gamer forum) and lots of competitors vying for the top spot.
Kinect, Xbox’s magical 3 camera, motion-sensing gaming system, soon followed and ditched the hand-held controller. Now Leap Motion is creating a system that works with your computer to fill the needs of 3-d modellers and designers everywhere. The upward facing unit uses 2 cameras to create a hemisphere of vision that reads small movements in all directions.
However, there is a new game-changer in this tech space, moving away from the use of motion sensing cameras and into reading electrical muscle pulses. MYO by Thalmic Labs is a versatile forearm band that can be integrated with many devices. I see these being designed into wrist watches and manufactured in bold colors to appeal to younger users soon enough. Check out this video for a taste of what’s to come:
http://youtu.be/oWu9TFJjHaM