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Leap Motion, Inc. (formerly OcuSpec Inc.) was an American company that manufactured and marketed a
computer hardware Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the computer case, case, central processing unit (CPU), Random-access memory, random access memory (RAM), Computer monitor, monitor, Computer mouse, mouse, Computer keyboard, ...
sensor device that supports hand and finger motions as input, analogous to a
mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
, but requires no hand contact or touching. In 2016, the company released new software designed for
hand tracking In the field of gesture recognition and image processing, finger tracking is a high-resolution technique developed in 1969 that is employed to know the consecutive position of the fingers of the user and hence represent objects in 3D. In additio ...
in
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
. The company was sold to the British company Ultrahaptics in 2019, which sells the product under the brand name Ultraleap.


History

The technology for Leap Motion was first developed in 2008, while co-founder David Holz was studying for a
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in mathematics. Holz co-founded the company with Michael Buckwald in 2010. The company raised a $1.3M seed financing round in June 2011 with investments from venture capital firms
Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz (also called a16z, legal name AH Capital Management, LLC) is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Andreessen ...
,
Founders Fund Founders Fund is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. Formed in 2005, Founders Fund had more than $11 billion in aggregate capital under management as of 2022. The firm invests across all stages and sectors, including aerospace, artificia ...
, and
SOSV SOSV is a venture capital firm that provides pre-seed, seed, venture and growth stage funding to startups in the technology sector. The company conducts seed accelerator programs in Asia and the United States of America. SOSV was founded in 199 ...
, as well as several angel investors. In May 2012, Leap Motion announced a $12.75M Series A funding round led by
Highland Capital Partners Highland Capital Partners is a global venture capital firm with offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco. Highland has raised over $4 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 280 companies, with 47 IPOs and 134 Acqui ...
. In January 2013, Leap Motion announced a further series B round of funding for $30M. After operating in quiet since 2010, Leap Motion publicly announced its first product, originally called ''The Leap'', on May 21, 2012. The company launched a software developer program in October 2012 and distributed roughly 12,000 units to developers interested in creating applications for the device. While the device was slated to launch in May 2013, full-scale shipping was later delayed until July. In March 2014, it was reported in
TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...
that roughly 500,000 units had been sold, far short of initial expectations; as a result, Leap Motion announced layoffs for 10 percent of its workforce, primarily in sales and marketing. On April 7, 2014 COO Andy Miller left the company. In May 2014, Leap Motion released its version 2 software to developers in a public beta. In August 2014, the company launched a VR tracking mode for its core software, designed to provide hand tracking while the device is mounted on virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Rift. Later that year, Leap Motion launched a global game jam in partnership with independent games festival IndieCade with over $75,000 in prizes. The competition received over 150 submissions. A second competition in 2015 resulted in 189 entries. In March 2015, it was announced that the upcoming OSVR Hacker Development Kit would include an optional faceplate with embedded Leap Motion module. In February 2016, Leap Motion released new software, called Orion, built for use in VR. In May 2019, Leap Motion was acquired by Ultrahaptics; the combined company was named 'Ultraleap'. The reported sale price was $30 million - about 10% of the company's peak valuation of $300 million reached in 2013.


Partnerships

Leap Motion has partnered with ASUS who is expected to ship high-end notebooks, and all-in-one PCs (AIO PCs) with the technology later in 2013. Leap Motion also announced a deal with Hewlett Packard to embed its technology within HP computers. In December 2013, it was reported Leap Motion would be embedded into eleven HP devices, including keyboards and laptops. Leap Motion has formed retail partnerships with
Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...
, Newegg, and
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
. Leap Motion Controllers were sold by Dick Smith in Australia and New Zealand.


Technology

The Leap Motion Controller is a small
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
peripheral device which is designed to be placed on a physical desktop, facing upward. It can also be mounted onto a virtual reality headset. Using two monochromatic IR cameras and three infrared
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
s, the device observes a roughly hemispherical area, to a distance of about 1 meter. The LEDs generate pattern-less IR light and the cameras generate almost 200 frames per second of reflected data. This is then sent through a USB cable to the host computer, where it is analyzed by the company software using "complex maths" in a way that has not been disclosed by the company, in some way synthesizing 3D position data by comparing the 2D frames generated by the two cameras. In a 2013 study, the overall average accuracy of the controller was shown to be 0.7 millimeters. The smaller observation area and higher resolution of the device differentiates the product from the
Kinect Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flig ...
, which is more suitable for whole-body tracking in a space the size of a living room. In a demonstration to
CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
, the controller was shown to perform tasks such as navigating a website, using pinch-to-zoom gestures on maps, high-precision drawing, and manipulating complex 3D data visualizations. Leap Motion initially distributed thousands of units to developers who are interested in creating applications for the device. The Leap Motion Controller was first shipped in July 2013. In February 2016, Leap Motion released a major beta update to its core software. Dubbed Orion, the software is designed for hand tracking in virtual reality.


Developer community

In December 2013, Founders Fund and SOSV announced the LEAP.AXLR8R, a business accelerator for startups making innovative use of the Leap Motion controller. Projects emerging from the accelerator included Diplopia (now Vivid Vision), a tech startup using the Leap Motion Controller and Oculus Rift for lazy eye sufferers, and MotionSavvy, which is developing a Leap Motion-equipped tablet case that can interpret American Sign Language. Leap Motion has an app store called Airspace where it sells apps made by developers. As of May 2014, the store had over 200 apps, including a Google Earth integration, virtual clay sculpting app, digital musical instrument, and virtual reality demos. The Leap Motion Controller has also been used by surgeons and researchers for medical software, automotive companies for concept cars, and musicians for composition in Ableton Live. In 2016, AltspaceVR added hand tracking support for the Leap Motion Controller to their online social platform.


Reception

On July 22, 2013, the controller was released to pre-order customers to mixed reviews. To some reviewers, the product feels underwhelming and does not live up to the hype. It is an "admirable distraction but not useful for truly productive usage" and to some it feels as though they "experienced a gimmick". Some reviews have expressed cautious optimism about the product's success and innovation. To other reviewers, the Leap Motion Controller seemed "pretty damned impressive" and that the device "demonstrates Leap Motion’s impressive mastery of computer vision." While the Orion software offers improvements in tracking and as the system continues to improve, some users feel that "it fails just often enough to undercut its value as an interface." The Orion beta works on the existing peripheral, and the company also announced that Orion hardware would be embedded in future virtual reality headsets .


References


External links

*
Airspace Store

Collection of LEAP Motion tech demos & experiments
{{Mixed reality American companies established in 2010 2010 establishments in California Computing input devices Gesture recognition Companies based in San Francisco