“Nigerian Student, (Twitter: @omijie_osas), Has Built a Touchless Technology from Scratch” via (Twitter: @myafricanow) http://bit.ly/1XdNclZ
Nice!
He should use that knowledge to produce something useful like a touchscreen ATM, Display or an interactive multimedia screen for TV presenters.
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And get a good lawyer to protect his IP. 
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Wow! That’s awesome! We need more talents like this. Hope he finds all the support he requires.
Hate to be the party popper but raising the sensitivity of any capacitive screen would achieve the effect demonstrated.
On the bright side, he built a phone from scratch. That, we can celebrate. I think.
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The amount of work that must have gone into this! It’s super nice, but also super impractical for a phone. I mean, it’s more stressful to actually not touch the screen. Not to drag his effort, but I’d have loved some more interesting applications.
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You beat me to this, I believe Air gestures is made possible by infrared sensors, but there’s more to be said.
The guy said he “invented” something, I strongly doubt that. Built is a better word.
This looks like it is being powered by laser tracking tech, nothing new about that, the famous laser keyboard uses this as well as those things that convert any sufrace to a touch screen.
There is nothing user-friendly about almost touching the screen just to prove that I don’t have to actually touch it. Also, why is he taking jabs at Apple and Samsung ? These guys can build this in a blink of an eye ? But no one wants an “Almost touch the screen touchless screen phone”
Plus there’s the leap motion, which is an actual 3D gesture control device. The only way that is happening on a phone is if they invent a transparent infrared sensor that can be layered on top of the screen.
Now a little positives, he did well building this, although a little naive to think he can take on Apple or Samsung or the west, if anything he should be hoping he gets into some MIT type program to learn more. Nigeria has no R&D in this field, there are hardly any applications for this in indigenous companies.
He should go back to the drawing board and think of a better device to build with this tech.
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Seriously though. Besides reviews, consumers didn’t give a hoot about Samsung’s air gestures. Nice touch to impress your friends at the bar? Yes. Impractical for daily use? YES.
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They really didn’t. But at least I don’t have to consciously avoid the screen just so that I can use the phone right. Not like this build would ever work on a phone. The sensors have to be under and not around my fingers.
Only Tony Stark can use 3D gesture control practically, because he has 3D holograms too.
My main gripe with this and other similar “inventions” is the reporting. You see gullible dailies saying X invented Y. I mean Y has been in existence for as long as I can remember. Some kid was said to have invented an automobile in the North. 
Kudos to him for building it. That’s about it.
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Same here. It is so absurd. Even worse when university students are involved. You’d think they’d know better. Losing count of all the sh*t cars and flightless copters Nigerians have been building.
But this guy is just naive throwing jabs at the only people who can actually help him improve.
He’s got the hubris of youth. I’ll give him a break. What impressed me is that he had the focus and fortitude to do it himself. Maybe his next “invention” will be special.
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I feel quite proud, as a former Uniben EE student. I can say it’s never easy to build anything. I imagine that the phone is his final year project.
With my own little toy then, along with my friends, it was weeks of sleepless nights with immense pressure to defend the piece.
So kudos to him. His work isn’t practical to smartphone applications, to be frank. Why would I not want to touch what I can(and want to) touch?
Maybe a touchless screen doesn’t have to be applied to phones. Maybe medical devices. That could work.
All the best. He should just write his GRE, IELTS, get a good score, and get the hell out.
Oh & BTW, a friend made a phone in my time too. Or a smart phcn meter. I can’t recall exactly. But this is no way to trivialize his work. It is immense accomplishment even if it is an inverter and you build it yourself, and not contract it out to Ring road boys.
Which reminds me, I think EE folks should really be building. Beyond software. A friend and I are playing around with some very basic project right now, for instance. Just a side project to flex technical muscle. No venture intended. We need some atoms. Not to say bits aren’t good too. It’s just tough practicing when every conversation is around software and the new cool site.
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It’s a good effort! He could also explore a way to integrate his product with VR.
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Something related to how we react to “discoveries” or “inventions”. I agree with the author.
You sound like a young person who is obviously enthusiastic about maths and I would like to commend you on finding out things by yourself!
This is the very essence of mathematical discovery!
Most people have to be TOLD every new concept because most people CANNOT think of new things by themselves.
ANYONE who works out some idea that is new to that person in fact HAS DISCOVERED it!
It does not matter if other people have already thought of it before.
The absolute JOY of finding out a new “RULE” by yourself is what I call the “aha!” experience.
If a student of mine comes up with an “aha!” experience, I applaud them!
One day, they just might come up with something that NOBODY else has thought of.
Congratulations my friend!
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I read some of the comments and many quorans were talking about little kids figuring out some maths for themselves.
Someone believing he/she has discovered a new math rule is one thing. But to build an impractical device (without any patentable tech) as a university student and then boast about how it can take down a $600 Billion dollar beast is just naive. You don’t patronise a university student that thinks like that, he/she needs to be enlightened. I wouldn’t be surprised to find an a build like this on instructable.
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Don’t forget the RC plane…
Very cool effort, though the unfortunate use of the words “I invented”… has sidetracked the discussion from the actual coolness of his project.
I was half expecting one of those “I cobbled something together from pre-buit modules, now I’ll dazzle Nigerians with my invention” but I was impressed that he actually used raw LEDs, IR sensors, and other low-level tech. This shows that at least he understands the underlying mechanisms (row/column excitation and scanning) and is able to make it work reliably enough. That’s laudable for a final year project in any undergrad program worldwide; doubly so since he’s done it in a country that lacks so many resources to foster this type of tinkering.
This video was shot in 2014, and I’m very curious where this bright young man is now… hopefully not wasting away in some dead end job. Found his site: http://eoomijie.com/ and again, impressed by the projects he’s worked on…
I wish our leaders and moneyed individuals would have more vision and more faith in this country’s youths and stop merely pouring their money into real estate and drinking. There’s a large electronics company that needs to be funded and run by this guy…
About taking on Apple and Samsung… well, it’s in his Nigerian DNA to dream bold… Apple was once a figment in the minds of two young men at the time IBM was synonymous with computers, and Samsung got its start as a crayfish seller*
*slightly more glossy history http://www.samsung.com/levant/aboutsamsung/samsung/history_08.html
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You went through that site and still wondering what happened to him.
That he isn’t breaking out apps on Techcabal and Techloy doesn’t mean he isn’t relevant.
Yeah… I was wondering, which prompted me to visit the site… I realize that no news doesn’t mean irrelevant.
I just feel he, like many budding engineers, is not being used to his full potential, because of the country we’re in…
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