SoftKinetic announces pocket-sized DepthSense 325 gesture recognition camera kit

It seems like just yesterday that we were sampling SoftKinetic’s gesture control systems at CES, but the company is back today with its latest developer-targeted hardware. The DephSense 325 is a pocket-sized camera (SoftKinetic claims it’s the smallest such device in the world) that can “see” in high-definition 2D and also analyze 3D depth. Whereas the DS311 we played with in January could detect finger movement from as close as 15 centimeters, the company has managed to shrink that distance even further to just 10cm. That’s something Microsoft can’t say about its current Kinect hardware, though we’ll need to see SoftKinect’s technology in action to get a sense of how accurate tracking is. Dual microphones are also integrated within the DS325 for audio-based interaction.

As for how the DS325 might be used in the real world, the company cites theoretical examples that include video games, “edutainment” applications, video conferencing, online shopping, and social media implementations. If SoftKinetic wants its gesture recognition tech to see adoption in the industry, it will obviously need to stir developer interest. To that end, the company is demonstrating the DepthSense 325 at Computex this week, and you can be sure we’ll be taking a closer look before long.