There have been many interesting concepts and prototypes to come out of the Research labs at Microsoft in the past few years. A more familiar project to recently poke it’s head out the doors would be TouchLite, PlayTogether and PlayAnywhere; or perhaps more commonly known in it’s complete form as Microsoft Surface. But there’s one fascinating prototype that never seemed to have made it into the spotlight.

In 2002, Andy Wilson, a researcher for the Adaptive Systems and Interaction division at Microsoft (the same division responsible for Surface) unveiled a new device dubbed “XWand”. XWand was a single handed device, in wand form (hence the name), that could be used to control everything in it’s surroundings, from your personal computer to the various lights in the room, by using simple gestures such as turning your wrist or waving your hand side to side.

Unfortunately, unlike the many other prototypes to come from Wilson, this one never seemed to have found it’s way into any products by Microsoft and nothing has been heard of it since 2004.

There are many home automation devices available on the market today, unfortunately none of them are quite as unique and intuitive as XWand. The most common type being the hand held remote, almost Pocket PC-like device, comprising of a touch screen and several menus (much like Logitech’s “Harmony” remotes). Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather just point at something and with the flick of a wand, it does what I want it to do, rather than having to browse through endless menus first to find what I want to control and then browse through the various options for that item.

However, there’s one thing that worries me more than the apparent demise of XWand, and that is the future of several other prototypes that Microsoft has shown us over the years. More recently at CES08, Microsoft demoed a new smart environment-recognition device for one to quickly pull up relevant information for whatever it is the device happens to be pointed at (eg. Showtimes for a movie theater, the menu for a restaurant etc…) and at CES07, Microsoft demoed an instant-wallpaper like device that projected different styles and images onto the walls of the room depending on the user’s selection. Since these devices first captured our attention, nothing else has been heard of them. Are they doomed to follow the same path as XWand?

So here’s to hoping that maybe someday, XWand and the various other intuitive technologies Microsoft has been concocting in their labs over the years, may finally find their way into the vast market of electronics that most of us can’t afford.

If XWand has grabbed your interest like it did mine, you can feast your eyes on a demonstration video which Microsoft published in 2004.