If you’re a Second Life player, you know how cumbersome the keyboard and mouse feel when you’re trying to move around that virtual world, interact with others and construct stuff. Second Life creator chairman and designer of groundbreaking spreadsheet software Lotus 1-2-3 Mitch Kapor is experimenting with a new hands-free way to interact with the game using a clever 3D camera and complex motion-tracking software.

Using technology that can determine where your arms and legs are located in 3D space, the software can also detect your facial expressions, translating that into corresponding actions on your in-game avatar. Just like navigating a Segway, leaning forward, backward or from side to side steers you around, and there’s also a group of gestures for flying. Maybe this smooth tech, when it’s someday cost-effective, will convince more of those people who are signed up for Second Life but not playing to join in the virtual fun.

Continue to the next page to see Kapor’s video explaining the new technology.

Hands Free 3D, via Crave