Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RealHands (Revolutionize the way humans interact with technology)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-06-01 al 2021-05-31
Problem:
Within the field of mobile AR/VR, using your hands is the most intuitive way to interact with real and virtual objects. However, real time tracking and analysis of hand movements using cameras have been an extremely challenging problem due to the complex movements of the hands and the hardware limitations of smart devices. The absence of realistic hand interaction has so far been one of the limiting factors for broad adoption of AR/VR solutions. This project tackles the full hand tracking challenges in real time for smart devices and wearables to deliver intuitive experiences to users.
Importance for society:
Hand tracking and hand interaction is a vital concept in any interactive AR/VR use case. ManoMotion’s patented technology integrates hand tracking and gesture analysis in a B2B software solution. This solution creates real-time hand understanding, gesture control & hand-to-object interaction in mobile AR/VR environments. ManoMotion is on a mission to make technology more accessible and intuitive by using hand input in a wide range of applications, such as industrial, education, healthcare use cases, etc.
Overall objectives of project RealHands:
Expand product features, quality improvement, usability analysis and IP analysis of the ManoMotion product.
Market expansion/partnering, continue entering new markets, currently focus on USA and Asia.
Stakeholder onboarding and co-development of new features with key industry partners.
Ramp up marketing and communication activities, preparation of promotional materials and once trade shows start again after Covid-19 ManoMotion will attend and exhibit key events.
Within the field of mobile AR/VR, using your hands is the most intuitive way to interact with real and virtual objects. However, real time tracking and analysis of hand movements using cameras have been an extremely challenging problem due to the complex movements of the hands and the hardware limitations of smart devices. The absence of realistic hand interaction has so far been one of the limiting factors for broad adoption of AR/VR solutions. This project tackles the full hand tracking challenges in real time for smart devices and wearables to deliver intuitive experiences to users.
Importance for society:
Hand tracking and hand interaction is a vital concept in any interactive AR/VR use case. ManoMotion’s patented technology integrates hand tracking and gesture analysis in a B2B software solution. This solution creates real-time hand understanding, gesture control & hand-to-object interaction in mobile AR/VR environments. ManoMotion is on a mission to make technology more accessible and intuitive by using hand input in a wide range of applications, such as industrial, education, healthcare use cases, etc.
Overall objectives of project RealHands:
Expand product features, quality improvement, usability analysis and IP analysis of the ManoMotion product.
Market expansion/partnering, continue entering new markets, currently focus on USA and Asia.
Stakeholder onboarding and co-development of new features with key industry partners.
Ramp up marketing and communication activities, preparation of promotional materials and once trade shows start again after Covid-19 ManoMotion will attend and exhibit key events.
Work Performed and Main Results
Expand product features and improve quality significantly:
Combined SDK solutions of ManoMotion into a unified framework with a standard software architecture was released.
Hand gesture support was extended to full hand tracking and gesture analysis and released in the ManoMotion product.
Quality assurance of the released features and software versions, usability analysis and user tests were done in multiple iterations.
IP analysis of the core technology and inventions have been done. The outcomes of major contributions have been filed for patent applications.
Market expansion and partnering:
ManoMotion expanded it’s operation by a US operation in 2020 and an Asian operation in Q2 2020.
After analyzing the market opportunities for ManoMotion’s technology, the strategy was set to go into three vertical areas, using the same underlying technology, packaged in different ways. The three vertical areas were: Industrial customization projects, Integration into AR Headsets and SDK for Mobile Apps.
Partnering activities with OEMs in each area:
An industrial company chose to implement ManoMotion hand-detection technology as part of their safety systems to detect hands in dangerous zones.
A US based AR headset manufacturer and a Finnish headset manufacturer became a partner using our software to control the HMI of their headsets.
An automotive manufacturer licenced the SDK to evaluate touchless hand interactions inside the car.
The ManoMotion standard SDK was launched on the ManoMotion website in January 2020 and has had success in its first six months:
The free version has been downloaded 1600 times
The commercial version has had 200 requests
Stakeholder onboarding and co-development:
To improve the onboarding and conversion of visitors:
The website was upgraded to be more focused directing visitors directly to download our SDK.
Supporting materials were developed and made available on the website to ease app development using the ManoMotion SDKs
A new licensing system were implemented and introduced for web downloads
Changes introduced have had a positive impact on the number of downloads and registered users on our website.
To create early users and developers of our technology, hackathons were planned, but due to covid-19, efforts were re-focused to:
Run an online community with events on a continuous basis, allowing users to try out new versions, new ideas and new features and give us their feedback.
Creating an online hackathon
Dissemination and exploitation
We initially attended trade shows like CES with good results. Due to Covid-19 all tradeshows and events all over the word were cancelled and the marketing strategy were focused on online marketing activities and SEO optimization of our website and social media channels.
During the project, we communicated the progress in terms of new technology and products released, relevant use cases of the technology and how to use the technology.
Over 40 videos have been produced and shown for clients and investors and a selection has been posted in our social media channels. Five white papers were produced and published through press releases, social media and on our website.
Through weekly posts in our social media channels and press releases the outcome has been 10 338 registered users for our SDK, 25 000 people reached on Facebook and 76 200 views on Linkedin, and 20 videos were published on youtube generating 91 452 views.
Expand product features and improve quality significantly:
Combined SDK solutions of ManoMotion into a unified framework with a standard software architecture was released.
Hand gesture support was extended to full hand tracking and gesture analysis and released in the ManoMotion product.
Quality assurance of the released features and software versions, usability analysis and user tests were done in multiple iterations.
IP analysis of the core technology and inventions have been done. The outcomes of major contributions have been filed for patent applications.
Market expansion and partnering:
ManoMotion expanded it’s operation by a US operation in 2020 and an Asian operation in Q2 2020.
After analyzing the market opportunities for ManoMotion’s technology, the strategy was set to go into three vertical areas, using the same underlying technology, packaged in different ways. The three vertical areas were: Industrial customization projects, Integration into AR Headsets and SDK for Mobile Apps.
Partnering activities with OEMs in each area:
An industrial company chose to implement ManoMotion hand-detection technology as part of their safety systems to detect hands in dangerous zones.
A US based AR headset manufacturer and a Finnish headset manufacturer became a partner using our software to control the HMI of their headsets.
An automotive manufacturer licenced the SDK to evaluate touchless hand interactions inside the car.
The ManoMotion standard SDK was launched on the ManoMotion website in January 2020 and has had success in its first six months:
The free version has been downloaded 1600 times
The commercial version has had 200 requests
Stakeholder onboarding and co-development:
To improve the onboarding and conversion of visitors:
The website was upgraded to be more focused directing visitors directly to download our SDK.
Supporting materials were developed and made available on the website to ease app development using the ManoMotion SDKs
A new licensing system were implemented and introduced for web downloads
Changes introduced have had a positive impact on the number of downloads and registered users on our website.
To create early users and developers of our technology, hackathons were planned, but due to covid-19, efforts were re-focused to:
Run an online community with events on a continuous basis, allowing users to try out new versions, new ideas and new features and give us their feedback.
Creating an online hackathon
Dissemination and exploitation
We initially attended trade shows like CES with good results. Due to Covid-19 all tradeshows and events all over the word were cancelled and the marketing strategy were focused on online marketing activities and SEO optimization of our website and social media channels.
During the project, we communicated the progress in terms of new technology and products released, relevant use cases of the technology and how to use the technology.
Over 40 videos have been produced and shown for clients and investors and a selection has been posted in our social media channels. Five white papers were produced and published through press releases, social media and on our website.
Through weekly posts in our social media channels and press releases the outcome has been 10 338 registered users for our SDK, 25 000 people reached on Facebook and 76 200 views on Linkedin, and 20 videos were published on youtube generating 91 452 views.
Technical developments within the project have resulted in significant quality improvements and addition of required features in the ManoMotion products. Currently, ManoMotion technology provides the most efficient and detailed hand tracking and gesture analysis software for mobile platforms, smart devices and wearables. Similar technologies require extremely powerful hardware to provide advanced hand tracking features or provide limited functionality on smartphones.
The uniqueness of the ManoMotion solution is related to its novel AI framework and IP. During the project, several innovative methods and potential inventions have been developed that are planned to go through a patent process.
The main technical achievements after the completion of the project have been done on providing the most advanced hand tracking features, performance improvements, building a scalable data driven framework for automated learning and integration of hand tracking with other input methods for smart devices.
The commercial result from this project has started to make it possible for AR-applications to be developed and made available on smartphones and low-end headsets previously not possible. This will make it possible for many new AR applications to be usable sooner and will benefit not only ManoMotion commercially but also many AR studios and smaller HMD manufacturers and their customers and users.
The uniqueness of the ManoMotion solution is related to its novel AI framework and IP. During the project, several innovative methods and potential inventions have been developed that are planned to go through a patent process.
The main technical achievements after the completion of the project have been done on providing the most advanced hand tracking features, performance improvements, building a scalable data driven framework for automated learning and integration of hand tracking with other input methods for smart devices.
The commercial result from this project has started to make it possible for AR-applications to be developed and made available on smartphones and low-end headsets previously not possible. This will make it possible for many new AR applications to be usable sooner and will benefit not only ManoMotion commercially but also many AR studios and smaller HMD manufacturers and their customers and users.