Gesture detection has drawn a lot of interest, and the Kinect has been able to get the attention of not just gamers but from computer scientists, engineers and artists as well. Microsoft too, is now branching out and one of its latest research projects offers gesture control powered by just a computer's speakers, microphone and some inaudible sound.

Called SoundWave, the technology uses the Doppler effect, which ties changes in sound frequency to movement, in order to detect gestures. A computer pumps out inaudible sound waves and the microphone will listen out for how hand positions change from the resulting echoes.

Its still at an early stage and there's a lot more effort to be put it to scroll pages and flick between photos for instance, but when its hear, I don't suppose we're going to hear a lot of mouse clicking. It works quite amazingly too and you'll have to check out the proof of concept after the jump.

The team demonstrate that the technology can be used to neatly lock a computer when a user stands up and walks away. Impressive. Check out the video after the jump. [Microsoft via The Verge]