A race to liberatecomputer users from the mouse is kicking into high gear, inspired by the potential of turning hands and other body parts into digital controllers.

The goal: to manage computers and other devices with gestures rather than pointing and clicking a mouse or touching a display directly. Backers believe that the approach can make it not only easier to carry out many existing chores but also take on trickier tasks such as creating 3-D models, verifying whether clothes fit, training athletes and browsing medical imagery during surgery without touching anything.

Such possibilities have spurred furious action at some high-tech heavyweights, including Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Google Inc. and companies that make televisions, computers and other hardware. Microsoft, which helped ignite the action with the 2010 introduction of its Kinect accessory for gaming consoles, on Monday is updating the software that allows developers to build applications for the PC version of the product.

Meanwhile, smaller entrants are developing inexpensive gesture-based products to help bring the technology to a mainstream audience. A start-up called Leap Motion on Monday will begin taking orders for a $69.99 device that allows users to control any desktop or laptop computer by waving their hands and fingers in the air.

The gadget, which resembles a pack of gum, is designed for particularly precise actions. Where devices like Microsoft's Kinect track larger movements -- like the action of swinging a tennisracket -- Leap Motion says its technology can let a person write words or draw a picture, as it tracks motions within fractions of millimeters.

David Holz, Leap's chief technology officer, demonstrates how the Leap allows users to rotate and zoom in on a digital globe with one motion, something that would take several steps using a mouse or a touch screen.

'It really makes you feel connected,' says Mr. Holz, during an interview in the company's bunkerlike basement office in San Francisco. By contrast, existing tools that control computers 'don't work like real life.'

Not every interaction with a computer will necessarily be enhanced by gestures. But new interfaces have consistently defined winners and losers in the technology industry -- such as Apple's pivotal backing of the mouse on the Macintosh in the 1980s and touch-screen applications since 2007 with its iPhones and, later, iPads.

Apple hasn't publicly tipped its hand, but a person familiar with the matter said it has been studying gesture-based technology for years. It has patented an invention for allowing users to manipulate three-dimensional interfaces without touching a screen. Apple declined to comment.

Backers believe gesture-based technology, along with voice-activation technology, will inspire entirely new kinds of devices and applications, such as robots that recognize and interact with humans based on their movements or physical therapy training programs that can tell whether someone is performing exercises correctly.

The field is attracting some venture-capital money. Bot Square Inc., whose Flutter app parses images from a webcam to allow users to play and pause iTunes and Spotify music libraries with a hand wave, has raised $1.4 million from venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, NEA and others. The Mountain View, Calif., company plans to release other apps and support for additional gestures soon, says CEO Navneet Dalal.

Leap Motion has raised a total of $14.55 million from Highland Capital Partners and Founders Fund as well as Andreessen Horowitz and others.

Microsoft's existing version of Kinect for Windows PCs -- introduced earlier this year -- tracks the motions of an entire body, but the company says its updated software will allow tracking of more joints, including head, neck and arms.

Craig Eisler, general manager for Kinect for Windows, says the existing version of the software has been downloaded more than 350,000 times by developers. Potential uses include helping surgeons view 3-D medical imagery while operating, and creating cheap 3-D body scanners.

Other variations of the concept are in the works. Google recently offered a sneak peak of specially modified glasses that give the user information about the world around them, combining sensors and voice recognition along with gesture control.

At PrimeSense Ltd., an Israeli developer of motion-sensor technology, Tal Dagan, vice president of marketing, envisions gesture technology being embedded in signs that can change when different people are standing in front of them and robots that guide shoppers in stores.

Mr. Holz, 23 years old, began working on Leap's technology while in high school. He says he was frustrated by how hard it was to draw a three-dimensional object with a mouse.

He dropped out of the University of North Carolina Ph.D. program to start the business with a friend from middle school in Florida, Michael Buckwald. For the past year and a half, they and now 20 employees have been working to refine their software and the Leap, which is expected to ship between December and February.

Like the Kinect, the Leap relies on infrared light. The device creates a three-dimensional zone where it can detect minute movements. It can control any software running on a computer it is connected to but the company wants developers to build applications specifically optimized for gesture.

Mr. Buckwald says the company is talking to partners about embedding its technology in laptops and other devices.

Jessica E. Vascellaro

• liberate [´libəreit]   vt.解放，释放，放出   (初中英语单词)
• computer [kəm´pju:tə]   n.计算机；电子计算器   (初中英语单词)
• medical [´medikəl]   a.医学的；医疗的   (初中英语单词)
• furious [´fjuəriəs]   a.狂怒的；猛烈的   (初中英语单词)
• introduction [,intrə´dʌkʃən]   n.介绍；引言；引导   (初中英语单词)
• audience [´ɔ:diəns]   n.听众；观众；接见   (初中英语单词)
• device [di´vais]   n.装置；器具；策略   (初中英语单词)
• interview [´intəvju:]   n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈   (初中英语单词)
• contrast [´kɔntrɑ:st]   n.对比 v.使对比(照)   (初中英语单词)
• invention [in´venʃən]   n.创造；发明；虚构   (初中英语单词)
• screen [skri:n]   n.银幕 vt.遮蔽   (初中英语单词)
• inspire [in´spaiə]   v.鼓舞；使感悟；吸入   (初中英语单词)
• physical [´fizikəl]   a.物质的；有形的   (初中英语单词)
• flutter [´flʌtə]   vi.飘扬；摆 n.拍动   (初中英语单词)
• venture [´ventʃə]   n.投机 v.冒险；敢于   (初中英语单词)
• release [ri´li:s]   vt&n.释放；放松；赦免   (初中英语单词)
• additional [ə´diʃənəl]   a.附加的，额外的   (初中英语单词)
• manager [´mænidʒə]   n.经理；管理人；干事   (初中英语单词)
• concept [´kɔnsept]   n.概念；观念；思想   (初中英语单词)
• recognition [,rekəg´niʃən]   n.认出；认识；承认   (初中英语单词)
• gesture [´dʒestʃə]   n.手势 v.打手势   (初中英语单词)
• standing [´stændiŋ]   n.持续 a.直立的   (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ]   a.工人的；劳动的   (初中英语单词)
• program [´prəugræm]   n.说明v.为...安排节目   (初中英语单词)
• florida [´flɔridə]   n.佛罗里达   (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ]   a.奔跑的；流动的   (初中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl]   n.&a.潜在的；可能的   (高中英语单词)
• motion [´məuʃən]   n.手势 vt.打手势   (高中英语单词)
• tennis [´tenis]   n.网球(运动)   (高中英语单词)
• racket [´rækit]   n.(网球等的)拍；球拍   (高中英语单词)
• necessarily [´nesisərili]   ad.必定，必然地   (高中英语单词)
• highland [´hailənd]   n.山地，高地   (高中英语单词)
• specially [´speʃəli]   ad.专门地；特别地   (高中英语单词)
• detect [di´tekt]   vt.发觉；侦察   (高中英语单词)
• touching [´tʌtʃiŋ]   a.动人的 prep.提到   (英语四级单词)
• surgery [´sə:dʒəri]   n.外科；外科手术   (英语四级单词)
• hardware [´hɑ:dweə]   n.五金器皿   (英语四级单词)
• accessory [ək´sesəri]   n.附件；帮凶 a.附属的   (英语四级单词)
• version [´və:ʃən, ´və:rʒən]   n.翻译；说明；译本   (英语四级单词)
• precise [pri´sais]   a.精确的；清楚的   (英语四级单词)
• basement [´beismənt]   n.地下室   (英语四级单词)
• refine [ri´fain]   v.精炼；提纯；改进   (英语四级单词)
• inexpensive [,inik´spensiv]   a.廉价的   (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ]   a.迷人的 n.捕获物   (英语六级单词)
• rotate [rəu´teit]   v.(使)旋转；循环   (英语六级单词)
• consistently [kən´sistəntli]   ad.一致地；始终如一地   (英语六级单词)
• publicly [´pʌblikli]   ad.公然；公众所有地   (英语六级单词)