Doing your fingers the way you normally do will operate a smart watch thanks to Project Soli.

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Google’s Advanced Technology And Projects is doing great things as far as technology is concerned (ATAP). ATAP brings science fiction to reality by creating technologies that we are able to use and enhance our lifestyle. Earlier this month at the annual Google I/O conference, the company showed off a number of exciting ATAP projects currently in development. One of the projects that featured in the conference is the ability to control something without touching it.

ATAP has figured out that our bodies generate a certain amount of energy at times. That energy might be turned into gestures that could be recognized by new devices equipped with a special sensor. Project Soli tracks movements with a tiny radar to give devices the ability of recognizing human gestures and then trigger corresponding responses. Google has already devised a PC-sized radar emitter that’s no bigger than a dime, and it will be available for testing next year.

Project Soli’s gesture-tracking takes a particularly unique approach in that it depends on radar. Radar, which detects objects in motion through high frequency radio waves, enables what Project Soli’s design lead Carste Schwesig calls a “fundamentally different approach” to motion tracking. “A typical model of the way you think about radar is like a police radar or baseball where you just have an object and you measure its speed,” explains Schwesig.

“But actually we are beaming out a continuous signal that gets reflected by an arm, for example…so you measure the differences between the emitted and the received signal. It’s a very complex wave signal and from that we can provide signal processing and machine learning techniques to detect gestures.” Schwesig added.

Technology developed by companies like Leap Motion are amazing. They let us control computers simply with movements and gestures performed in mid air. A sensor then interprets those movements and instantly translates them into commands.

Now, imagine scaling that down to the point where this technology can be used to control anything. Project Soli is working on the technology to make it a reality. Consumer electronics of the future, from televisions and telephones to microwaves and toasters, could be completely unrecognizable. Things like Kinect and Leap Motion paved the way, but Project Soli will use advances in chip and sensor technology to really push things to the next level reports BGR.

Imagine controlling the TV, air conditioner, snoozing your alarm and turning your favorite radio station without moving from one place to another. I think this one of the many innovations that will revolutionize the world.

Read: Google reveals the features of the soon to come Android M

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TECHNOLOGY

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