A year after we got our first taste of Myo, Thalmic Labs has announced that it will be reaching out to the masses by way of Amazon this quarter. As with its pre-order on the company's website, this muscle-sensing gesture control armband will cost $199. Thalmic Labs already sold over the 50,000 pre-orders with nearly half of them being shipped to buyers. This is a nice affirmation of the use cases Thalmic Labs and its partners have shown.
Gallery: Thalmic Labs' Myo armband at CES 2015. 5 Photos
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The Myo is a set of eight muscle-sensing module that you attach to the broadest portion of your forearm. This allows the device to detect hand movements. Let's talk about games These gestures include squeezes, spreading your hands or moving your hands left or right, turning your forearm, or one quick pinch with a second finger (which can be used to turn on or stop your Myo). Additionally you can also combine accelerometer, gyroscope and a magnetometer to detect your arm motion.
There's no power button for the Myo It will wake up when you take it out of your pocket, and it automatically goes back to sleep if you leave it alone for a while. A single charge will last somewhere between 10 to 14 hours if you use it regularly, which is impressive.
Bluetooth LE is used to communicate with the Myo Connect application. This app feeds motion input back to the program or device that you are controlling. At Thalmic Labs' demo room, we got to utilize the Myo to control video playback and volume on a PC, and an Orbotix Ollie rolling robot and Race The Sun, an thrilling flight-based obstacle avoidance game. Except for the connectivity issue with the Ollie and the arduous nature of the game, most of these scenarios were quite easy for us.
We've seen Myo demos that included PowerPoint, iTunes and Call Of Duty. Users will be able download apps "connectors" from the Myo Market to try out some of these use cases and to control Spotify, Netflix, Sonos plus popular games like Minecraft and Saints Row IV.
Thalmic Labs also had some impressive exhibits right before CES. The company's Myo integration was announced in November by TedCas. This allows surgeons to manipulate images from medical devices without having to touch a screen. Haute Technique shared the story of how it was able to allow Armin van Buuren, a Dutch DJ, to use the armband as a control device for the stage lighting during his concerts. It'll be interesting to see what the people behind gesture cameras come up with, as companies are betting big on gesture control.
Update: The product page is now active on Amazon.