Glimra — Control without a touch

Aje Oluwaseun Isaac — Sat, 14 Nov 2026 02:24:57 +0000

This is a submission for the Presage SmartSpectra SDK Challenge.

What I Built

When you’re teaching or giving a talk, reaching for the keyboard to change slides can break your flow. I built Glimra, a desktop app that lets you navigate a PDF presentation with deliberate head movements.

Open a PDF, enable camera control, and wait for tracking to be ready. A gentle turn changes slides, and a nod scrolls the current page when there’s more content to see. Glimra gives teachers, speakers, trainers, and people with limited hand mobility another way to control their slides. Keyboard navigation remains available.

Demo

Watch the full 2:32 Glimra demo on YouTube

Jump to the split-screen live test at 1:32. The phone footage shows me making the head movements while the desktop capture shows the presentation responding.

Code

The demo shows Head mode on Windows. To try hands-free control, use a webcam, add your Presage API key in Settings, and open a PDF. The download packages are available through GitHub Actions and require GitHub sign-in.

How It Responds to Human Signals

Glimra uses live facial landmarks from the Presage SmartSpectra SDK. After camera consent, a native worker opens the camera through SmartSpectra and reads facial landmark samples. Glimra compares stable samples with a resting position to detect deliberate head movement, then turns that movement into a slide or scroll command. The detector rearms after the presenter relaxes so a held turn does not repeatedly advance slides.

Prize Categories

Best Thoughtful Real-World Use

I wanted presenters to be able to stay focused on their audience while moving through a PDF. Glimra offers another way to control slides for people who find reaching for or using a keyboard difficult. The app includes a setup guide, a visible tracking status, and keyboard controls that remain available when the camera is off.

Most Creative or Delightful Use

I used the camera as a presentation input. A small, deliberate head turn becomes a slide command. In the split-screen demo, you can see my hands stay away from the controls as the presentation responds to my movement.

Consent and Data Handling

Glimra asks the user to explicitly enable camera control before starting capture. Pause stops gesture commands while keeping capture active. Disconnect camera or closing the app stops the capture session.

The native SmartSpectra SDK processes camera frames locally. Glimra does not record, upload, store, or share footage or facial landmarks. Derived gesture and tracking data are held in memory for the session, and PDFs are rendered locally. Glimra does not request microphone access or use a cloud AI service.

If the user saves a Presage API key, Glimra stores it using Electron’s OS-backed encryption where supported. The user can clear the key in Settings. Non-sensitive preferences, such as theme and control mode, are stored locally and can be cleared by deleting app data.

Glimra sets SDK telemetry to disabled. Presage authentication and metering may still require network access. See the full camera consent and data handling disclosure.

DEV Community: Aje Oluwaseun Isaac