Leap Motion Controller

The technology for Leap Motion was first developed in 2008, while co-founder David Holz was studying for a Ph.D. in mathematics. Following an initial angel investment, Holz co-founded the company in 2010 with his childhood friend Michael Buckwald. The company raised a $1.3M seed financing round in June 2011 with investments from venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, and SOSventures, as well as several angel investors. In May 2012, Leap Motion announced a $12.75M Series A funding round led by Highland Capital Partners. In January 2013, Leap Motion announced a further series B round of funding for $30M.

After operating in quiet since 2010, Leap Motion publicly announced its first product, originally called The Leap, on May 21, 2012. The company launched a software developer program in October 2012 and distributed roughly 12,000 units to developers interested in creating applications for the device. While the device was slated to launch in May 2013, full-scale shipping was later delayed until July. In March 2014, it was reported in TechCrunch that roughly 500,000 units had been sold, far short of initial expectations; as a result, Leap Motion announced layoffs for 10 percent of its workforce, primarily in sales and marketing.

In May 2014, Leap Motion released its version 2 software to developers in a public beta.

The Leap Motion controller is a small USB peripheral device which is designed to be placed on a physical desktop, facing upward. Using two monochromatic IR cameras and three infrared LEDs, the device observes a roughly hemispherical area, to a distance of about 1 meter (3.28084 feet). The LEDs generate pattern-less IR light and the cameras generate almost 300 frames per second of reflected data, which is then sent through a USB cable to the host computer, where it is analyzed by the Leap Motion controller software using "complex maths" in a way that has not been disclosed by the company, in some way synthesizing 3D position data by comparing the 2D frames generated by the two cameras.

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:

Leap Motion initially distributed thousands of units to developers who are interested in creating applications for the device. The Leap Motion controller was first shipped in July 2013.