Postcard from the Future: The write stuff Red Herring ,  August 30, 2001 By Scott Tyler Shafer Simply put, the PC is entirely useless without a keyboard and mouse. The same argument could also apply to a personal digital assistant, which lacks both elegant data input and navigation solutions. This is a problem OTM Technologies believes it can solve. Based in Herzliya, Israel, OTM Technologies has created a technology that measures motion. They've developed a patented optical design, called optical translation measurement (OTM), that fits into a single 10-mm standard laser diode. Shaped like a miniature incense cone, the laser component, which the company believes will begin appearing in commercial products next year, is able to measure and capture motion continuously in three dimensions from all surfaces. That means measurement occurs not only at the contact point, but also above it. This subtle technological point makes the technology ideal for capturing the quick and constant motion of handwriting. The Class 1 laser component (which is eye-safe) works by emitting a light similar to a DVD player's laser. Yet rather than remaining still, as in a DVD player, OTM's design allows for motion to be measured and captured even as the laser is moving. This was accomplished by designing an encoder with a reference point found within the laser, thus allowing the sensor to measure any relative motion that moves across its optical aperture. By using diffusive light reflected by a surface, the component is able to measure and capture motion from anywhere. This is called interferometry, a word that is derived from the words "interference," which is the interaction of light waves, and "measure" -- what is done with the reflective light. Although OTM's accomplishment may sound trivial, it is not. LASER TAG Other motion-reading laser technologies must be stationary or in constant contact with a surface. This is because other lasers require an external reference point, like a physical surface or something similar to a bar code. For example, the majority of optical mouse products sold today work on most surfaces but must always be touching the surface in order to measure motion. This is why the optical mouse doesn't work if it is hovering even a single millimeter above a surface. Not to mention, an optical mouse requires a lot of processing, as most are not actually able to detect fast motion. Instead, the laser in a mouse takes a series of pictures of the surface and then quickly correlates them. This sucks up processing power and is unsuitable for low-powered portable devices. All of this isn't to say that new laser solutions for measuring motion are not being developed elsewhere. Anoto, a subsidiary of the Swedish company C Technologies, which makes digital pens that read and store text off of printed documents, is working on a solution of its own. Anoto's technology also measures motion, yet only performs if the writing is done upon special paper that has grids acting as reference points. While there is no known direct competitor to OTM that has embedded the reference point within the component, that might not be the case in the near future. A technology from N-Scribe is attempting to mimic motion capture by using a triangulation technique that relies on multiple external reference points. The company is marketing the technology as a consumer product rather than selling it as a component to electronics manufacturers. Gilad Lederer, president and CEO of OTM, however, believes these techniques defeat the purpose of using lasers as a writing instrument. "If the laser needs to stay still, that defies the purpose of the technology," says Mr. Lederer. "Consumers want the freedom to write from anywhere." THE PLAN OTM's plan is to sell the tiny laser component to electronic consumer device manufacturers. In July, the company chose Philips Enabling Technologies Group to design and begin manufacturing OTM's sensors. OTM says it will have a prototype in a few months, and it expects consumers will see its technology embedded in products available next year. Although OTM would not disclose the price of the laser component, they did reveal that consumer electronic device manufacturers will have little problem meeting their target price of $99 for the finished product. Mr. Lederer envisions consumer electronic device manufacturers taking the technology and building it into Bluetooth or 802.11-enabled devices. He believes the final product will take one of two forms. It could be a wireless pen-like device that will capture the motion of handwriting from any surface and transmit the data via Bluetooth or 802.11 to a device that will then interpret it using common handwriting-recognition software found in all PDA devices today. Alternatively, the laser component will simply be affixed to the tip of a cell phone, converting the actual phone into the input device. In this design, consumers would then use the phone like a pen, and the words they write will appear on the screen of the device -- a big step from keying messages today with a number pad. OTM believes the idea of measuring motion on any surface lends itself well to other markets. Mr. Lederer says the component can be used in the medical world to measure blood flow or in the security world to measure movement. Either way, Mr. Lederer doesn't care how their technology is used as long as they can sell it. "We don't know consumer electronics," he says. "We're going to leave it to the experts." To date, the company has received $7 million in venture funding from the European and U.S. venture arms of Deutsche Bank Capital Partners and Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, respectively; STI Ventures; and Startupfactory. The three-and-a-half-year-old company also generated its own revenue from its first two years of operation, during which it licensed another similar laser technology. Although the technology is great, we may never see it if the consumer device manufacturers decide they don't have room for it in their devices, or if it gets too complex. Nonetheless, OTM has created something that someone will eventually find to be useful.