Typically air guitar works in two ways: you’re either home by yourself and get a tune stuck in your head so you start jamming in the air. Or there’s a song blaring around you and you think “yea, I could play that” and off you go with your best knee slide.

Sony would like to introduce a 3rd option, their Motion Sonic wristband which is part of their Motion Sonic Project.

Part of Sony’s Future Lab division, which is responsible for Project-N, the headset that sits around your neck, this new device as reported by Nick Statt from The Verge provides

 sensors and microphones to capture data on the rotation, acceleration, and angle of arm and leg movements. The device then translates those sounds into one of five preset functions that turn your limbs into musical instruments, let you add and control filters on an existing tune, and perform a number of other specific sound manipulations.

Some examples include clapping your hands or slapping your knee to produce and manipulate melodies and a way to turn air guitar motions into real guitar sounds. 

Here is the device now with a bit of explanation.

Now don’t get me wrong, I “get” that this isn’t a shipping product and more about what the technology can do, especially if further miniaturized, but I’m struggling to see where this goes. As an avid Apple Watch owner who hasn’t seen a day for the nearly the past two years without having it on, I don’t see how this tech could add something to it or to a hypothetical Sony SmartWatch 4 that would elevate their functionality.

Frankly, in the wearables category, if we allow ourselves to think beyond air guitaring or creating a device for EDM DJ’s (hello huge market opportunities?) to put on a more visual show, where does it lead? Perhaps the future for it is exactly that – something that’s meant for the arts and stage performance which I could see. But in regards to consumer tech, I simply don’t see how to apply this towards anything meaningful unless we really think people will want to do weird hand gestures that trigger specific functionalities. And if the market is the former, is there a path that Sony can actually pursue and recover their R&D, let alone make money from?

What do you make of it and where do you think the tech could apply if further miniaturized?