While everyone is busy thinking the future of video-game interfacing is Microsoft’s Project Natal, UK-based Cambridge Consultants decided to change the way controllers interact with our hands. The Suma is a pliable, 3-D controller that senses how and where your hand moves.
Underneath its skin, the Suma has a matrix of sensors, an accelerometer and a squeezable foam core. The three work together to create a virtual map of how your hand is moving, tilting and applying pressure. Their floor concept demo is about the size of a tennis ball and designed to match the object in a ball-maze video game, but the Suma platform can be wrapped into any shape necessary to suit its application.
Right now, the design concept is not being commercially applied to a product, but Suma reps told us that they’ve had a lot of interest in development from 3-D rendering companies, video-game makers and even toy manufacturers. On a humanitarian level, the Suma can also easily have medical or physical therapy applications to treat motor ailments like arthritis.
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