Leap Motion turns your hands into VR controllers with Orion

We’ve been promised that this is the year that virtual reality finally takes off. This piece of kit adds gesture control to VR headsets, making them more intuitive and hence more immersive than ever. Dubbed Orion, the program aims to improve natural hand and finger input in simulated scenarios.

When Leap Motion first unveiled its gesture-based controller in May 2012, many were skeptical of its capabilities and questioned its need in the marketplace. Today, the company is announcing Orion, a new software and hardware initiative that aims to deliver the fastest, most accurate hand-tracking yet to VR systems. It’s part hardware, part software, built from the ground up to tackle the unique challenges of hand tracking for VR. “It’s radically smoother, faster, more reliable, and far more capable than even the best of what’s existed before”.

Leap Motion, who deals with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) has revealed its latest tool, Orion, which can let you manipulate virtual objects through your visor like a Jedi.

The video below showcases Leap Motion’s Block demo, now enhanced with Orion software that enables players to quickly, effectively interact with and create blocks. “With Orion, we’re enabling developers and OEMs to create that type of experience”, CEO Michael Buckwald said.

The VR business is now officially big business with the recent news that one of Leap Motion’s competitors, the confusingly-similar Magic Leap, raised almost $800m from Alibaba to develop its own technologies.

Taking a look back at the Leap Motion Controller, it came as a well-rounded motion-sensing tech that delivered its goal.

Orion starts with software, the true magic of Leap Motion technology. Until then, the program works with current hardware like the Leap Motion Controller. Leap Motion is privately funded and headquartered in San Francisco, CA.