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Is there a way of using leap motion as an input to an android app? I know that the SDK currently only supports Windows and MAC, but is there a way (any open library/interface via Windows) to make the device talk to an android phone (could be rooted)? Any other depth sensing alternatives for hand gestures for android aside form Kinect?

Mick MacCallum
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abhishek
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3 Answers3

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Might be a bit of a late answer, but check out this link. It deals with connecting leapmotion and android throught a node.js server.

http://marctan.com/blog/2013/05/26/leap-motion-and-android-a-match-made-in-heaven/

user1419305
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Introduction

Thanks for the hints of using node.js server as proxy. I have come up to a smooth acceptable solution to make LeapMotion work on Android (indirectly).

Pre-requisites

  • A PC or a Mac with npm as the "PROXY"
  • npm install binaryjs
  • npm install sleep
  • An Android device with Wi-fi capability ("DEVICE")
  • Leap Motion device ("LEAP MOTION") connected to the "PROXY"
  • Wi-fi LAN connection between the "DEVICE" and "PROXY"

The basic idea of this solution is to use the PROXY to make the impossible (Android+LeapMotion) to become possible. The PROXY will read the data from LEAP MOTION using the Javascript SDK and stream (ya, it's streaming rather than posting) the data to node.js instance running on it.

The DEVICE will connect to the PROXY and stream (ya, it's again streaming rather than polling) the hand position data and present it as a red circle on screen.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Download the PROXY project here

  2. Extract the project

  3. Run in on your instance of node.js server on your PC or Mac (e.g. node index.js)

3a. You might need to install binaryjs and sleep module by npm here

  1. Mark down the IP of the PROXY

  2. Open your browser (Chrome and Safari are proven working) and browse http://localhost:5000 to verify it is running

  3. Download the Android project for your DEVICE here

  4. Import the project in ADT

  5. Open strings.xml to modify the IP address to the IP address of PROXY

  6. Run the project on YOUR DEVICE

  7. Move your hand above the LEAP MOTION and see the red circle moving according to your hand's direction

Enjoy!

Patrick Chan
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  • Can you please include your dependencies: okhttp-2.0.0.jar, okio-1.0.0.jar, android-async-http-1.4.5.jar, gson-2.2.2.jar ? Also, the module sleep isn't really needed, you could comment the require("sleep") line, the code works with just the binaryjs module as well. – Darth Coder Mar 05 '15 at 22:55
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You would need to be able to plug the leap motion device into the android phone, which would require a specialized adapter. Even then, the user would need to download the software, which is not available for Android. If you are able to, maybe you can by editing the leap motion software to be compatible with android, or just have the depth sensing capabilities compatible. Maybe in the future, but for now, I don't think its possible. As for an open library/interface via Windows, I don't know a lot about that. I also don't know of any alternatives that are as reliable and accurate as Leap. Sorry I couldn't answer the entire question.

You may be able to post this on the Leap Developer Forums, and they could maybe give you a better answer.

SplatFace Development
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