Kinefold: An Electromagnetic Positioning System for the Human Hand (Working Draft)

1.Introduction

For Seventy Years, Humans have entered the computer's world through a rectangle. What Happens when the Computer can enter ours?

There seems to be a gap in the development of technology, something that seems to always be overlooked. Computers have advanced year on year with revolutionary leaps in multiple dimensions, beyond recognition in both capabilities and form: networks process at gigahertz, graphicss render at thousands of frames per second beyond what the human eye can even percieve, storage capacity has grown to a level where a single device can contain the entire contents of the Library of Congress, sensing technology has allowed for autonomous cars to roam the streets we thought only be traversed by humans, and yet, the user interface context has remained largely unchanged. Humans approach a physical device or surface, stare at the illuminating array of lights arranged in a rectangle, and communicate to it using discrete button keys. Even the "spatial" systems that we create (VR technology) simply just reproduce this paradigm by just having the rectangles floating around you in 3D space.

Something that does currently try to address the question is the development in AR technology. Meta's recent development in their newest Meta "Ray-Ban Display" explores EMG sensing to read movements of the muscles within the hand, giving a light layer of control over its built-in systems, and camera-based spatial computing for infered computer-vision. This is some evidence that we are, in some ways, making progress in the transition. However, AR is currently still building upon the old architecture of the ancient digital world, confining us into the age old rectangular web pages and windows.

What I want to challenge, is simply the strangly unquestioned architecture of the internet being largely unchanged since the very birth. I believe adding another layer of depth to our interaction with technology is essential for its evolution.

2.The Problem, Outlined

Counter Arguement

The fact is, is that the technology that we need to make the electromagnetic gloves does already exist, and has existed for some time. The problem is that the technology is not being used in the right way, and is not being used to its full potential. Not enough access to this technology is being given to the public, and the technology has been completely privatised, partially patented, remains very expensive, and thus prevented any meaningful progress. It will be my job to democratise this specific technology and allow for people interact with computers in a new, fundamentally different way.

Let's not forget that this is only one piece of the puzzle. The other piece of the puzzle is the architecture of the AR/VR software that we are currently building upon. The development of XR technology has been making great progress in the last decade, and we can only expect it to continue to do so - and when it does get to the holographic stage, only then will it be clear that the technology can be directly applied to the human hand, and thus allow for the use of Kinefold to become a large scale reality.

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3.Electromagnetic Positioning

There are many ways to try and solve positioning in 3d space, but I am proposing to try this method. Following the principles of the idea, what benefits using these physics are, and what its limitations are.

• 1. Using electromagnetic fields mean we have a much more controlled environment to work with; we can control the field strength, the frequency, the phase and the direction of the fields, allowing for a more precise and accurate system. This is in direct contrast to optical tracking, which is limited by occlusion, lighting conditions and limited FOV. Electromagnetic fields penetrate through most materials, allowing for it to physically overcome such limitations.
• 2. However, electromagnetic fields can be affected by metallic objects, which can cause interference and distortions of the field, depending on both the frequency and strength of the field, and the size, material and shape of the metallic object. This is a fundamental limitation of the physics, however there are actionable ways to mitigate and design around this, enabling for us to engineer a system that works reliably in a wide range of realistic environments
• 3. The system technology is suprisingly moduluar; the physics allow for variation in tracking space, and can be applied to other use cases, such as expanding to other parts of the body, or even to other objects (this is being used mostly in the medical field and automotive industry for tracking systems). This will enable use cases beyond what we can currently imagine, and therefore allow for unforseen serendipitous value to be created in the long run.
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• 5. Pretty fun to study.

4.Effects on Society

So what if this technology is enabled and becomes widely adopted? What are the long term impacts and benefits we can expect to see? What might we need to be careful about? This section will delve into the social and cultural implications of the idea.

4.1Communication

It will enable for communication through 3d medium. Currently we communicate through 2d; this allowed for text, image and video based communication. If we can enable for another dimension, we enable for more immersive and expressive communication. Such examples include holographic communication, 3d product design communication, 3d experiences, and unique ways of showing text. The possibilities for holographics will be endless.

4.2Social Interaction

By allowing for 3d communication, the creation of more rich and expressive social interactions will be a possibility. Subtle features like body language, hand gestures, facial expressions can be communicated, just like real life, allowing for communication of more natural and human ways, that video calling and text messaging couldnt provide.

4.3Culture and Identity

Facebook solved online identity, but to what end? What more can we share with each other by leveraging 3d systems? What do people want to share and express that can't be expressed in a 2d context? Can it show what we want? What we desire? What we feel? What we think? What we are? What we are not? What we want to be? What we want to become? What we want to hide? What we want to show?

I think this could be solved through allowing for people to create more. Lowering the boundaries to creation will allow for expression in ways we have never seen before. We believe that "what you create is a reflection of who you are."

4.4Reconstruction of Reality

Escapism is a double-edged sword. This will be filled out as we think about it deeper

4.5Design

This will be filled out as we think about it deeper

4.6Work and Labor Allocation

This will be filled out as we think about it deeper

5.Roadmap

This will be filled out as we think about it deeper

6.Team

Leonard C, engineer

Jonathan C, another engineer

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7.References

1. Full Whitepaper, PDF
2. GitHub
3. Protocol Documentation (Not Available Yet)
4. Node Operator Console (Not Available Yet)
5. Announcements, X / Telegram (Not Available Yet)
6. contact@kinefold.com (Not Available Yet)