Science makes Air Guitar Hero a reality

by JC Fletcher { Oct 28th 2009 at 10:00AM }

University of Washington Ph.D. student Scott Saponas demonstrated his muscle-movement interface for computer systems, by using it to control a familiar application: Guitar Hero. The system appears to guess finger movements by reading the signals from muscles in the forearm. The result: a true air guitar experience. In the custom Guitar Hero setup, the player can hold frets simply by touching a finger with his thumb, and strum by, well, strumming the air. See it in action after the break!

This is just a demonstration of some experimental technology. It's not specifically a game controller, and Activision won't be shipping electrodes to stores any time soon. This is a presentation for the Association for Computer Machinery's Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology -- the Guitar Hero thing just makes for an impressive show.

[Via Kotaku]

Tags: experimental, guitar-hero, muscle-controller, scott-saponas

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ashitaka @ Oct 28th 2009 10:07AM

Natal Plus xD

Morisato @ Oct 28th 2009 12:44PM

What happened to the days where we called everything fake until we saw the cable plugged directly into the device without and camera cuts?

AgentGoomba @ Oct 28th 2009 10:08AM

Oh technology.

TheCoats @ Oct 28th 2009 10:08AM

That sounds like the soothing voice of Johnny Lee....could it be?

TheCoats @ Oct 28th 2009 10:10AM

IT IS!!

http://procrastineering.blogspot.com/

Nathan-DTS [He is your father] @ Oct 28th 2009 10:16AM

In relation to gaming, I prefer a controller in my hands, but the technology looks useful for other things.

JeezWhiz87 @ Oct 28th 2009 10:54AM

Don't worry, Activision prefers a controller in your hand too.

Snowman @ Oct 28th 2009 10:18AM

thats so not fair, only 6 fingered people can play Air Guitar Hero on Hard and up

Inigo Montoya @ Oct 28th 2009 11:18AM

I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?

scratch @ Oct 28th 2009 11:33AM

lol!
skillfully played inigo. you win, this time!

this tech is pretty dame cool and i can see all kinds of applications for it, from helping the disabled to controlling servo-powered robots. but demonstrating it with air guitar hero was just a brilliant PR move on this guy's part. he's from my alma mater!

SF Legend @ Oct 28th 2009 12:08PM

Just like real guitar hero! So realistic!

qbert18 @ Oct 28th 2009 2:40PM

do you always begin conversations this way?

Me @ Oct 28th 2009 10:21AM

Air guitar hero, air guitar hero 2, and air guitar hero: Jonas Brothers confirmed!

lol @ Oct 28th 2009 11:34AM

I'll personally be waiting for Air Guitar Hero: Wyld Stallyns

I'm sure it would be a most excellent adventure.

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Jan 4th 2010 2:19PM

RUFUS!

Me @ Oct 28th 2009 10:24AM

...for Q2'10

Asmerom (PSN: neon6plz) @ Oct 28th 2009 10:36AM

Hell Yeah!

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 [Planeteer | Power of General Hostility and Angst] @ Oct 28th 2009 10:46AM

I can definitely see this being used in concert with prosthetics further down the road. Go technology!

P.s. Skynet will probably take over around that time.

DeepFriedSushi @ Oct 28th 2009 5:39PM

skynet joke is fucking old and tired

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 [Planeteer | Power of General Hostility and Angst] @ Oct 29th 2009 8:13AM

Being a cynical cocksucker on the internet is old and tired.

Bobby Kotick 2: Echoes @ Oct 28th 2009 11:02AM

Why? What is the point of that? Let's take a look.

If that was how you would play, then it would be the equivilant of playing air guitar, which, last I checked, is free. You could just go on YouTube and look up a chart and pretend that it's you getting 100% to get the same expierence. Playing with a plastic instrument at least gives you some physical feedback on playing the game.

Besides, isn't air instruments the reason why Wii Music was such a failure?

Slaziman (PSN ID: Slaziman) @ Oct 28th 2009 11:29AM

Because it's just a tech demo. The actual potential applications are different.

Wait a second, you ugly midget son of a bitch, you're just trying to get us to keep buying your overpriced peripheral controllers. I'm on to you Kotick!

Archon (PSN: Archonik, XBL: DarkARHN) @ Oct 28th 2009 11:09AM

More like Theremin Hero.

boing.inc @ Oct 28th 2009 11:59AM

zing!

I'd totally forgotten about those...

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 [Planeteer | Power of General Hostility and Angst] @ Oct 28th 2009 1:59PM

*Cue creepy 50's sci-fi/horror music*

burgabunz @ Oct 28th 2009 12:38PM

Science: 1, Religion: 0

Tucker @ Oct 28th 2009 3:19PM

At first i was going to leave a comment questioning what this story has to do with religion, but then I found passage Harmon I:X in the Bible. And you're right, this does have to do with religion because it states:

"And lo, He gaveth to man the plasticke lute, wherewith man shall play His holy Musical Games. But damned shall be he who rejecteth God's gifts, for it is only the devil who can manipulate the Games by sheer force of will alone!"

So, yeah, science 1 I guess!