Cambridge Consultants launches ‘Suma’

CAMBRIDGE, UK: Cambridge Consultants, a product design and development company, has introduced Suma, which the manufacturer describes as a “uniquely intuitive and very low-cost squeezable user-interface technology” that is aimed at 3D content interaction.

The patent for the Suma sensor system is pending.

According to Cambridge Consultants, Suma provides a full-3D, highly sensitive control experience for gamers and others who want a high degree of interaction.

The company, in a statement, cited a report on 3D TV technology released by Frost and Sullivan which predicted that about 60 per cent of households in the United States will own 3D displays within 5 years.

The Suma sensor system translates the 3-dimensional deformation of a squeezed object into a software-readable form, according to the company. This enables highly sensitive control by finger movements as well as by whole-hand grip.

Devices based on Suma, Cambridge Consultants said, are capable of facilitating more of the degrees of freedom of the hand than do conventional controller technologies – and also without the need to use sensors or gloves.

The company claims that a Suma-based device is like a traditional gaming-controller, but with the normal casework replaced by a ‘Suma skin’.

Cambridge Consultants said in the statement that Suma enables companies that develop a wide range of products and applications – from design and gaming to music and creative arts – to “unleash” the full potential of both the human hand and the imagination of the user.

The company will demonstrate a prototype of its new gaming-controller, based on the new squeezable Suma technology, at the Consumer Electronics Show to be held in Las Vegas, the United States, on January 7-10, 2010.