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Crunchfish is a company developing advanced motion sensing technology for human–computer interaction. Originally inspired by frustration surrounding 3D modeling using a mouse and keyboard, Leap Motion asserts that molding virtual clay should be as easy as molding clay in the real world.

History
Founded in 2010 as OcuSpec, the company raised a $1.3M seed financing round in June 2011 with investments from venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund as well as several angel investors. In May 2012, Leap Motion announced a $12.75M Series A funding round led by Highland Capital Partners with participation from existing investors. After operating in stealth mode since 2010, Leap Motion publicly announced its first product, The Leap, on May 21, 2012. Preordered devices are set to ship in July 2013. They will also be in Best Buy stores starting in Jul 2013. Originally, the Leap Motion controller was set to ship in December 2012. However, this was later delayed to "First quarter of 2013", then to May 2013 and has now moved to July 2013. The company says it has 600,000 devices already manufactured and ready to ship but needs more time for testing.

The company was founded in 2010 by Paul Cronholm and is based in Malmö, Sweden. Initially Crunchfish AB based in Malmö, Sweden, developed various apps for the Android and iPhone/iPad markets in Scandinavia. The company offered Active3D, an imaging platform for mobile devices; Crunchpress, a customized tool to create art magazines; Customised Sound, an audio platform; and Powerful Audio Navigation Ecosystem, which creates audio navigation in various languages. The company provided apps for various industries, including medicine, telecom, car, banking, health, sport, mobile operators, trading, security, and data aggregation companies. “When we started Crunchfish AB we had the dream of making technology that made a difference in peoples’ lives,” said Paul Cronholm, Co-founder and CEO at Crunchfish AB. “The collaboration with Octoshape realizes improved media experiences for people all over the globe on any device." In April, 2011, Crunchfish was awarded winner of the Microsoft Awards 2011 in category Phone; for the application Hearway – a Windows 7 audio navigation system app for domestic and international users.

In January 24, 2012, Octoshape and Crunchfish announced a partnership to integrate Octoshape Infinite HD technologies into Crunchfish mobile application development platforms. The cooperation between the two companies resulted in improved media experience apps for iPhone, iPad and Android that were showcased at CES 2012 in Las Vegas 2012. “We find ourselves at the beginning of an explosion in global media distribution via connected devices,” said Michael Koehn Milland, CEO of Octoshape. “We are pleased to partner with Crunchfish to help our customers rapidly develop compelling and consistent user experiences to their device audiences.”

In August, 2012, Crunchfish raised 17 million SEK in venture capital from Sheikh Mohammed Al-Amoudi, serial entrepreneur Joachim Samuelsson and venture capital firm Intesa AB from Helsingborg. Crunchfish largest shareholder Sheikh Mohammed Al-Amoudi is one of the largest foreign private investors in Sweden. In August(?), 2012, the lawfirm Setterwalls reported that they assisted investors with an investment in Crunchfish. “Through the investment, the company brings in MSEK 17 in venture capital. The capital will be spent on further development of Crunchfish's technology Active 3D, abbreviated A3D, but also on patent and market investments. With Active 3D the user can by using gestures interact with for example cell phones and tablets, through the built in camera without having to touch the screen.”

In March, 2013, Crunchfish was selected as a Red Herring Europe 2013 Finalist. "This year was rewarding, beyond all expectations" said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. "The global economic situation has abated and there are many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products. We had a very difficult time narrowing the pool and selecting the finalists. Crunchfish shows great promise and therefore deserves to be among the Finalists.“ In April 10, 2013, Crunchfish was awarded as a 2013 Red Herring Top 100 Europe Winner

In May 2012, Leap Motion announced a $12.75M Series A funding round led by Highland Capital Partners with participation from existing investors.[3] After operating in stealth mode since 2010,[3] Leap Motion publicly announced its first product, The Leap, on May 21, 2012.[4] Preordered devices are set to ship in July of 2013[5]. They will also be in Best Buy stores starting in Jul 2013[6].

Crunchfish publicly announced its first product, Touchless A3D™ Software in..

Hardware partnerships
Leap Motion has partnered with ASUS who is expected to ship high end notebooks, and AiO (All in One) PCs with the technology later in 2013. Leap Motion also announced a deal with Hewlett Packard to embed its technology within HP computers.

Crunchfish..

In January 24, 2012, Octoshape and Crunchfish announced a partnership to integrate Octoshape Infinite HD technologies into Crunchfish mobile application development platforms. The cooperation between the two companies resulted in media experience apps for iPhone, iPad and Android that were showcased at CES 2012 in Las Vegas. “We find ourselves at the beginning of an explosion in global media distribution via connected devices,” said Michael Koehn Milland, CEO of Octoshape. “We are pleased to partner with Crunchfish to help our customers rapidly develop compelling and consistent user experiences to their device audiences.”

Technology
The Leap Motion controller is a small USB peripheral device which is designed to be placed on a physical desktop, facing upward. Using two cameras and three infrared LEDs, the device observes a roughly hemispherical area, to a distance of about 1 meter (3 feet). It is designed to track fingers (or similar items such as a pen) which cross into the observed area, to a spatial precision of about 0.01 mm. An advertisement video provides a visual demonstration.

The smaller observation area and higher resolution of the device differentiates the product from the Kinect, which is more suitable for whole-body tracking in a space the size of a living room. In a demonstration to CNET, The Leap was shown to perform tasks such as navigating a website, using pinch-to-zoom gestures on maps, high-precision drawing, and manipulating complex 3D data visualizations. Leap Motion CEO Michael Buckwald told CNET: "'We want there to be world-changing applications that fundamentally transform how people interact with their operating system or browse the Web.... The goal is to fundamentally transform how people interact with computers and to do so in the same way that the mouse did, which means that the transformation affects everyone, both from the most basic use case all the way up to the most advanced use cases you can imagine for computing technology.'" Leap Motion has distributed thousands of units for free to developers who are interested in creating applications for the device. The consumer product will launch with a price of US$79.99, and was offered at an introductory price of US$69.99 if preordered before February 27, 2013. The Leap Motion controller will ship in the week of July 22, 2013 and be available in Best Buy stores at around the same time. The current version available for pre-order requires a USB connection (≤ 5 feet USB cables). LeapMotion is planning for a wireless version in the future.

Crunchfish...

The Crunchfish Touchless A3D™ software is a platform that provides touchless functionality in mobile platforms, enabling the user to interact, activate and control interfaces by using mid-air hand and face movements in addition to the standard touch interaction.The A3D™ platform is designed to be integrated (it is not a standalone product) on various platforms and requires a single standard camera for providing interaction in three dimensions. It can be integrated into existing applications or new software solutions, replacing, complementing and enhancing existing input interfaces. The platform consists of an general engine and specific tracking and detector modules for different objects. The Crunchfish A3D technology can be used in a broad range of devices. The main consumer markets are mobile phones, tablets and DTVs.

Mobile phones In mobile phone context the touchless interaction adds a larger virtual interaction area in comparison to the limited screen touch surface providing functionality such as using the depth-dimension to change zoom and precision level and using the larger x, y plane to perform gestures that is outside the actual screen area.

Tablets With A3D technology the user can put the tablet in a comfortable position and be free to mid-air gestures instead of holding and touching the device with both hands. Several users at the same time can control the device without obscuring the screen or be forced to be in direct touch range.

Digital TV A standard DTV remote can be replaced using hand and face movements only. The DTV can be activated when it detects faces and can also detect when a user is not looking at the screen and then pause the current screening.

Use Cases The Crunchfish A3D Platform can be used in many different contexts and with various devices. Below are some more detailed examples of use cases corresponding to the different levels of tracking and detection included with the platform. Hand or face presence The basic level of interaction is to detect when a hand or face is present, and then automatically activate a certain function, avoiding the need for an active touch interaction. In touchless demonstrations at MWC 2013 in Barcelona or GDC 2013 in San Fransisco, the Crunchfish A3D was shown to perform basic gesture tasks such as toggle the screen saver on a tablet on/off, unlock a device, light up interaction controls, zoom in and out, scroll, slide and slide out between different elements. More advanced features as touchless object sharing possibility between devices were demonstrated at these occasions. The company are planning a set of further advanced gestures as for example; Replace mouse or finger control with a higher precision. Replace remote media controls such as changing volume, channels, play etc. Freehand paint using the entire hand Pan without the need of a multi-touch finger control.Browse media such as movies, songs or pictures. Alternate between tabs, files or options. The Touchless A3D is a software platform that doesn´t require any specific hardware except a single camera and a device running a mobile OS. The platform can run on all major mobile operating systems. Typically the platform is integrated into the application layer replacing or complementing existing touch input interfaces. This gives the developer full freedom to implement their own application logic, UI system and intuitive gesture interpretation based on the Touchless A3D™ technology. Typical integration can be done using IDEs such as Microsoft Visual Studio™, Eclipse™ or similar.

Detection Module

The detector module initiates the touchless interaction mode. This module determines when a specific object is visible by the camera following an activation of the motion tracking. The platform includes both a face and an hand detector. The detectors provide a lean and fast detection that works in a broad range of light conditions and can detect different hand postures as well as a face.

Tracking Module

The tracking module provides the functionality to track and follow a specific object. The tracker usually combined with the Touchless A3D detector module but it can also be easily integrated with other third party object detectors. The tracking module is not limited to hand or face tracking, it can be extended to track other objects as well. The tracking is divided into two different levels depending on the type of movement. Tracking Engine The Touchless A3D tracking engine uses patent pending technologies to provide efficient tracking in different light conditions. The engine supports most cameras from QVGA up to several megapixel resolutions. It can run on limited hardware CPU which makes it possible to create touchless interaction even on low end/mid-end embedded devices without adding any new hardware or the need for integration into high end devices.

Dim Light Enhancer

The patent pending dim light technology enables detection and tracking in dim light conditions.This enables interaction in dark conditions even with only the scarce light coming from the background display. Physical Motion Engine The physical motion engine enables the user to interact with devices in a more smooth and natural way. It simulates a physical behavior, similar to the interaction with real life physical objects by applying a force to an object and give it a certain speed (velocity).

Crunchfish gesture tracking platform Touchless A3D™ enables the user to interact with applications and devices without touching the screen. The company invited the public and MWC visitors for demonstrations of Touchless A3D™ at MWC 2013 and at GDC 2013 stating that “A3D™ works well even in poor light conditions with limited processing power.” “The technology is software based and does not require any changes to existing devices. The only requirement is that the device has a camera.” In November, 2012, Crunchfish newly appointed CEO, Joakim Nydemark stated in a following pressrelease: ”I am really excited to start working at Crunchfish. The company is passionate about touchless interaction and has a unique software technology to enable it. I see great potential for its use in a variety of application areas and really look forward to be a part of enabling people and products in the world to become a touchless generation.” Crunchfish CEO Joakim Nydemark told SVD: (major newspaper in Sweden) at the GDC 2013: “Crunchfish aims for partners that dare to be innovative.” Swedish Institute selected Crunchfish and their Touchless A3D™ technology as one of 20 showcased innovations and companies at the Innovative Sweden exhibition under the category ICT. Swedish Instititute showcase Crunchfish A3D™ technology in Berlin, 12 of March – 3 of May, 2013 and later the exhibition tour will continue to Berlin, Tokyo and Seoul. “The exhibition Innovative Sweden had its first show at Stanford, California, in November 2011, and then toured to six cities in the US, Canada, Brazil and China. In 2013 it continues its tour to Berlin, Tokyo and Seoul. The exhibition gives a glimpse of innovations from Sweden today from start-up companies that may become the leading Swedish corporations of tomorrow. The exhibition is complemented by an extensive program of presentations, seminars, workshops, keynotes and media, tailored to each city and country.” “The Touchless A3D™ technology developed by Crunchfish interpret movements in the room, preferably hand gestures (Gesture) and eye movements (Eye-tracking) to enable users to interact with small, big ormedium sized screens at a distance without touching the screens. The consumer will use Touchless body gestures to control the cursor, menus and items on screens at a distance.”