along with We believe wearable devices will become the mainstream in the future due to the emergence of a large number of products such as watches, Google Glasses, and so on. So far, our interaction mode is touch control, and voice is just input method. Therefore, we need a new interaction.

So far, the most popular is the somatosensory manipulation, but in people's impression, the somatosensory manipulation is usually realized by the camera recognizing the user's actions, which is not practical due to the constraints of many factors such as the site.

MYO wristband is a unique way to do human-computer interaction by detecting the bioelectric changes generated by the muscles on the arm when the user is moving, and cooperating with the physical motion monitoring of the arm. It seems to be up to the standard, but how about the actual experience? Let's have a look.

Packaging&Appearance

As an authentic foreign product, MYO's packaging really made the author shine. The combination of plastic and hard paper created a visual impact of transparency and non transparency.

From the transparent part of the packaging box, you can clearly see the MYO wristband, its black and white appearance, and the silver white metal electrode.

The non transparent part integrates most of the product information of the wristband: brand logo, product introduction and production place. It is a little pity that MYO, as a Canadian company, all the characters and symbols are in English and not localized for the country. For English speaking Xiaobai, it is difficult to obtain information.

Take away all the accessories. The inside of the box is also very exquisite, full of signatures and thank-you words on the inner wall. I have to say that foreign companies pay attention to details.

As a“ ”The accessories of MYO wristband are surprisingly few, including a data cable, a USB Bluetooth receiver and a bag of jackets.

Different sizes and thicknesses

Although MYO is nominally a wrist strap, it is hard to associate it with the word "wrist strap" when meeting for the first time. With its large and thick appearance and regularly arranged metal electrodes, MYO is a live "technology" product of unknown use.

The wrist strap is composed of eight small squares, which are connected together by silica gel chains. Although each square is different in size and thickness, the metal electrodes in each square are exactly the same. The 24 electrodes are the key to the wrist strap capturing the bioelectricity generated by the movement of the user's arm muscles.

Most of the interactions in the wrist strap are concentrated in one of the largest squares, two light blue breath lights (the strip breath lights are orange when charged), the vibration motor and the charging interface.

The body is thick and has a strong sense of existence

(Picture from the network)

Because the body of the wrist strap is thick, in order to ensure good contact between the electrode and the skin, the wrist strap has a large binding force on the arm. Long time wearing will leave deep marks on the arm.

"Black technology" in wrist strap: MYO basic principle

An electrode is installed in the MYO wrist strap. The sensor can capture the bioelectric changes generated by the movement of the user's arm muscles to judge the wearer's intention, and then send the computer processing results to the controlled device through Bluetooth to complete a series of instructions.

Ideal plump, realistic bone

Thalmic Labs is very optimistic about the future of MYO wristbands, and has made a big breakthrough around the wristbands. This can be seen from the operating system supported by MYO. Windows、Mac、iOS、Android， The lineup is huge, and the author will experience it from Windows and iOS.

Windows Experience

It is impossible for a new user to experience the convenience and fun of gesture control in Windows, at least for now.

Before use, there is a lot of preparation work, so it is necessary to install the client. Of course, this is understandable. The software is very sophisticated, and the guiding operations are shown through video, which can help users quickly accept the "black technology", but the easy-to-use software does not mean that the wrist strap is easy to use, The author and colleagues tried hard to complete the action input in a noon, but could it be that our body structure is different from that of foreigners? This explanation is too much nonsense. Please forgive me. The author believes that, in the final analysis, it is still a technical problem.

MYO adds a total of five gestures in the Windows operating system. Users can customize the function of each gesture through software, which can be set as mouse left and right clicking and any key in the keyboard. Although MYO wrist strap integrates a three-axis acceleration sensor and three-axis gyroscope, it cannot control mouse movement.

Thalmic Labs' vision is far more than that. We can see a variety of software drivers from the official website mall. However, after downloading several models, the author failed or had a poor experience. I won't repeat it here. I hope Thalmic Labs can optimize the accuracy of gesture recognition as soon as possible.

IOS practical experience

In the App Store, MYO does not support many applications. The author chose the little game "2048", which was popular some time ago.

Compared with the Windows experience, the iOS experience is very simple. When Bluetooth is turned on, you can manually search and connect the MYO wrist strap.

After successful connection, you can control the game through the swing, stretch and fist of your palm.

The vision is always good. After 5 minutes of actual experience, the author resolutely took off the wrist strap, and let's be honest with the touch operation.

summary

MYO wristband has opened a new way of thinking in the field of gesture and touch control, giving up the traditional camera recognition, and avoiding the confusion caused by site constraints. It cannot be denied that the manipulation under bioelectricity is really very convenient, and this change is likely to be a change in the way people live in the future.

But so far, the actual experience of MYO wristbands has shown us that MYO wristbands are still young and not mature technically, which takes time to accumulate. For a geek, MYO wristband can bring us a different experience. We can start with it, but ordinary players are not recommended to buy it. 149 dollars is not a small amount.

advantage

• Open up new ideas for gesture control

• Four operating systems are supported

• Fashionable appearance, strong sense of technology

Insufficient

• Immature technology and poor experience

• The wrist strap is heavy and cannot be worn for a long time

• Introduction in English, no localization for the country