We had a chance to see several optical (computer vision) motion sensing systems at CES that we found quite interesting.

First up was GestureTek

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. We’ve talked to (and about) about GestureTek in the past, but this was our first time to see their gear up close and personal. Their mobile motion sensing applications (leveraging mobile phone’s built-in cameras) have had some significant success (NTT Docomo includes GestureTek technology in all of their current high-end phones, and supports over 100 applications), but we were surprised to see the the huge number of other applications the company is supporting beyond the phone.

Our friend (and mobility guru) Russ McGuire dug up one (of many) DoCoMo’s hilarious motion sensing advertisements: look here to see what The Omen the movie we’re talking about.

Redwood City, California-based Reactrix was in the Samsung booth showing off their digital signage/advertising system which incorporates a stereo IR motion sensing platform combined with flat panel displays and an EV-DO network backend to provide truly interactive public advertising platforms that can be rapidly deployed in hotels and other public locations. Despite the fact that the Samsung booth was packed tighter than a can of sardines, the system worked impressively well and was able to pick out individuals and track their movements and gestures within a sea of folks gawking at the ultra thin LCDs.

Other optical sensing companies with a presence at CES included ThinkOptics (an interview with ThinkOptics can be found here, and a startup from Israel called 3DV Systems whose recently announced Zcam (a 3D, depth sensing camera system) was named a CNET Best of CES finalist .

We’re working on follow-ups with all of these players (and more from CES), so stay tuned for details.