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The proposal from Venu Govindaraju, director of UB's Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors, is one of 41 projects from around the world that HP Labs is funding with an Innovation Research Award.
Instead of having to use a keyboard, a mouse or some other device to move an object on a computer screen, users would be able to manipulate the object on the screen with just their voice and gestures.
"The whole human-computer interaction would be very natural," said Govindaraju, a UB professor of computer science and engineering.
The grants are meant to encourage collaboration in cutting- edge information technology research between HP and academic institutions around the world, said Rich Friedrich, director of the HP Labs Open Innovation Office.
HP Labs began seeking grant proposals in May, and the institutions had six weeks to turn in their project ideas. Researchers from 200 universities in 28 countries submitted 450 project proposals.
The three-year grants, worth up to $100,000 per year, were announced Thursday.
The schools will use the grants to hire graduate students to work on the projects.
"We're providing support and educating the next generation of scientists and engineers. It's a win-win," said Friedrich, who praised the "very clever" technology behind UB's proposal.
UB's was one of just two projects in New York State to receive funding. Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology also received the award. The University of Toronto also was a recipient.
The UB project grew out of work that Govindaraju and others have done in developing a "smart" room.
"Suppose I'm in a room, and I point to a switch, and I say, 'Turn on that light,' " Govindaraju said.
Even if there is more than one light switch in the room, a smart room would be able to tell -- through the vocal command and by the direction he is pointing -- which light to turn on, he said.
The same kind of technology could benefit a lecturer or someone talking in a business meeting, Friedrich and Govindaraju said.
Smart rooms and other efforts to get computers to recognize speech and gestures are part of a broader initiative known as ubiquitous or pervasive computing, Govindaraju said.
The UB research goes beyond the program on Apple's iPhone that allows users to manipulate objects on their phone by closing, opening or moving their fingers while touching the screen.
"Here it is hand gestures, without touching and at a distance, and this is a very daunting task," Govindaraju said.
It also builds on the technology behind the Nintendo Wii, which recognizes the movements of the user's hand holding a game controller and makes corresponding moves within the video game. In this case, no controller of any kind would be needed.
Today, the human user basically has to adapt to the computer, relying on a keyboard, mouse and other unnatural instruments, he said.
Under the ubiquitous computing concept, the computer would adapt to the person using it and essentially remain in the background, Govindaraju said.
The UB project and the other research proposals are expected to bear fruit someday, but not right away, Friedrich said.
"Our philosophy was to look at very forward-looking research projects," he said.
UB will be working on the hand-gesture project and sharing the HP Labs award with researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras.
The principal investigator in Madras is Anurag Mittal. UB will receive the bulk of the award.
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