Meaningful gesture: Thalmic Labs Myo motion sensing armband

Fist and twist to control your PC the electromyographical way

Customisation

Better still, there's a keyboard mapper that allows you to map gestures to keystrokes. Typically you set these up to activate Myo by the double-tap gesture first, and then deactivate it the same way, or after two seconds of inactivity. That way, you can drink your tea, or pick up your phone, without inadvertently triggering something.

The keyboard mapper lets you assign gestures to keystrokes (click for full size)

Settings can then be saved as a "connector", and linked with a specific application, so controlling it is even simpler in future. Not all gestures can be set up this way though. For instance, the useful "fist-and-rotate" isn't in the settings app. For that, you'd need to use the Myo SDK, which is available for Windows, Android and XCode. There's also plenty of documentation to help coders, too.

Apps in the Myo store let you control Parrot drones or a Sphero

There are already "connectors" for things like SoundCloud, Facebook, Popcorn Time, GoPro and more, as well as full-blown apps to control gadgets like Parrot drones or Sphero, all curated in a Myo Market. Less excitingly, there are also phone diallers and music controllers to let you use Myo as a remote control for your phone.

Thalmic Labs shows off uses for the Myo armband

The Reg Verdict

Alas, Myo's not without its flaws. At one time, I found some spirited typing would quite easily accidentally trigger the "double tap" to unlock it. Still, it's certainly an interesting way to control devices, and Thalmic Labs has made it very easy to use it with any app that can be controlled via keystrokes as well.

It strikes me as something with a lot of potential, though the current version is probably a bit too chunky for mass adoption and likewise the asking price is going to be a barrier too. Gripping it may be but at £179, it's certainly not in the impulse buy category. Whether or not Myo's potential is fulfilled will really depend on what compelling ways people find to use it, and how many people are willing to roll their sleeves up. ®