Put your hands in the air—Intel has made another major push into the world of touch-free computing. The chip maker confirmed on Tuesday that it bought Israel-based Omek Interactive, a gesture-recognition firm. Omek (which means ‘depth’ in Hebrew) offers gesture-recognition products for computer and software makers that can track full-body movements as well as finer detail hand and finger gestures.

Under Intel, Omek will help the chip maker in its ongoing push to popularize perceptual computing, Intel’s vision for the future where we interact with our PCs and other devices using hand gestures, voice commands, and facial tracking. “The acquisition of Omek Interactive will help increase Intel’s capabilities in the delivery of more immersive perceptual computing experiences,” Intel spokesperson Guy Grimland said.

Perceptual push

Intel hopes to see perceptual computing go mainstream in the near future. In March, Intel was at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco talking up its perceptual computing platform. In June, the company’s investment arm, Intel Capital, announced a $100 million fund to invest in software and application projects involving perceptual computing. In late 2012, the company released a software development kit (SDK) to help developers take advantage of Intel’s new interactive capabilities. Intel also recently closed the submission process for its Perceptual Computing Challenge, a contest with a $100,000 grand prize for the best use of the company’s new technology.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here