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laser pointer remote

 Laser pointer gestures to control home theater
 
(+2, -2) 		  [vote for,
against]

A webcam-like device could be set up in a room opposite your home theater system, pointed towards the home theater system. This device watches for laser gestures that you draw on the wall with a laser pointer. When the device recognizes a gesture, it then emits the corresponding infrared signal to control your home theater devices.

In programming mode, the webcam device could be shown a gesture, then the device could wait for you to send the matching signal using the original remote control.

Laser pointers are cheap. You can buy a dozen of them for the price of a mediocre universal remote. Buy a dozen at a time. If you lose one, you pull another one out of the drawer.

—joquarky, Mar 04 2009

Half-baked http://www.instruct...r...-with-a-LASER!/
Laser pointer + mouse [snoyes, Mar 05 2009]

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       Laser pointers are cheap, but this thing needs a webcam-like device that can recognize patterns. Would that not be spendy? Plus you would need to keep the laser pattern area fairly high on the wall or it will be destroyed by your pug when he sees that glowing red dot zipping around.
—bungston, Mar 04 2009
   

       If we're using a web cam as a receiver, why do we need a laser pointer at all? Just have the camera watch your hand gestures (or wave a specially painted stick or something).
—phoenix, Mar 05 2009
   

       // Would that not be spendy? //   

       Not really. You can use an off-the-shelf webcam (though probably not the very cheapest models) and do the processing on your existing HTPC.   

       The camera can have an optical filter that matches the wavelength of the laser pointer, to eliminate most interference. It doesn't have to be a scientific-grade one, so it can be cheap, probably less than a dollar per unit in production quantities.   

       // why do we need a laser pointer at all? Just have the camera watch your hand gestures //   

       Detecting and classifying motions of a single bright dot is easier than detecting and classifying motions of a human body.   

       // or wave a specially painted stick or something //   

       A stick with a glowing ball on the end would be practical. That's what PlayStation Move uses. Then you can have multiple units being tracked simultaneously, which is useful for gaming but probably not for remote control usage.
—notexactly, May 28 2019
   


 

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