German researchers have revealed a hi-tech glove that lets people simply write in mid air.
Dubbed the 'airwriter', the system is able to work out what is being written simply by monitoring the position of the user's hand.
Its inventors say it could be used to enter text messages and write emails.
'The airwriting glove is used to write letters into air, as if using an invisible board or pad,' said doctoral student Christoph Amma, who developed the system at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.
She believes the technology could eventually be woven into clothing so it can be used anywhere.
'The interaction is embedded seamlessly in everyday life,' she said.
Sensors attached to a glove record hand movements, then a computer system captures relevant signals and translates them into text.
The sensors are also able to tell when a user is actually writing, rather than simply moving around normally.
'The system runs in the background without interpreting every movement as computer input,' says Amma.
The system can recognise complete sentences written in capital letters and presently has a vocabulary of 8,000 words.
'The system has an error rate of 11 per cent, but when it is adapted to the individual writing style of the user, the error rate drops to three per cent,' Christoph Amma says.
To help develop the idea, Amma received the 'Google Faculty Research Award', worth $81,000, raising hopes it could be used with Google's Glass wearer.
'When such a system is combined with the possibility to input commands and texts by gestures, you do not even need a hand-held device,' she said.
Scientists are now working on further refining the method to filter out writing, and making the system smaller.
'This can be achieved with commercial components. An unobtrusive wrist band might be feasible, for example,' says Amma.
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