Modern technology has been attempting to turn gesture control into a main form of input for quite a while now. Game consoles like the Wii, peripherals like the Kinect and Move, and accelerometers in phones are the main culprits of getting us to flail around in order to perform a task on a computer. A new project wants to cut out the hardware middleman though, and aims to turn the air around you into a platform that can recognize gesture-based input.

It’s already possible to set up a system in an office or home that can recognize the gestures you make, but it’ll be something that was cobbled together, and there will be hardware all over the place. If someone created some software to run the system, a bunch of Kinects placed throughout the home could get the job done. Dispensing with the need for much hardware, though, a team at the University of Washington has managed to coax WiFi signals into recognizing basic gestures. The system doesn’t need any kind of camera, nor does it need users to wear any kind of sensor. All the system needs is a modified WiFi router, and a few wireless devices to bounce the signal around.

Dubbed WiSee, the way the system works is likely more simple than it may initially seem. In this day and age, wireless signals fill up just about every room we’re in. If the human eye could see the signals, your home and office would look like some kind of trippy nightclub. Though WiFi signals can travel through most standard obstructions, such as walls, there is still a change in frequency in the signal when something passes through it — known as the venerable Doppler shift. So, the University of Washington team built a receiver that could not only notice when there was a frequency shift in wireless signals, but could measure the shifts in such a way where they could be translated into gestures. The device — which can be made out of a standard wireless router given the proper modifications — doesn’t just measure a specific wireless signal, but recognizes most of the signals being spewed out by standard devices found in the home, such as smartphones and laptops. This means that if you live in a modern home, the system doesn’t necessarily require anything more than the initial modified router.

The receiver requires a few antennas to properly function, but that’s certainly less of a hassle than setting Kinects up all over the house. The antennas hone in on a specific users’ movements, so multiple people can use WiSee in the same area at the same time. In order to prevent confusion, however, WiSee requires an initial gesture combination in order to unlock and gain access to the device. So, not only does this prevent an unwanted guest from using the system, but it prevents WiSee from accidentally registering unintentional gestures when in actuality you were just stretching out on the couch.

So far, WiSee can recognize nine different gestures in total, ranging from pushing and pulling, to more complex gestures like bowling. Five participants tested the system using 900 gestures in a two bedroom environment, as well as an office. WiSee managed to recognize 94% of the performed gestures.

Though the consumer market has only recently received technology as sophisticated as the Kinect, WiSee — or a system like it — does seem like motion and gesture control’s destiny. Removing the need for many peripherals significantly lowers the barrier to entry, and not having to be perfectly situated in front of a camera makes using the system a casual endeavor. At the moment, it doesn’t seem like WiSee has any sort of consumer release planned, but considering the only thing it requires is a modified router and some regular wireless devices you most likely already own, it doesn’t seem too difficult to turn it into a consumer product.

Now read: Turning a standard LCD monitor into touchscreen with a $5 wall-mounted sensor