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With 35 days to go, China-based Maxus Tech has successfully crowdfunded a device that uses sonar technology to turn any surface into a gesture-based control interface. The company actually exceeded its $20,000 goal on the first day and as of today has raised more than $45,000.

Welle (pronounced vell-uh) makes it possible to use “unlimited simple gestures” to control TVs, speakers, coffee makers, thermostats, and other appliances, electronic devices, and IFTTT apps by effectively converting the surface it is resting on (or attached to) into a controller. A “highly sensitive” gesture algorithm uses sonar to track finger movements and can even recognize handwriting.

Welle, which means “wave” in German, connects to the device it’s controlling via Bluetooth. It recognizes standardized gestures and lets users assign their own gestures or handwriting short-cuts to interact with devices.

Maxus said the sonar technology it employs is based on the advanced ultrasonic systems used by the military and in automotive and drone markets. Here’s how it works:

Welle’s Sonar Technology transmits signal pulses and collects the reflected energy back from targets, identifying motions, gestures, and finger movements from the echoed signals. These echoes are translated into different instructions and words to IoT [Internet of Things] devices using an advanced hardware design and software algorithms. The Welle Sonar Technology tracks your fingers when you touch a surface and can even recognize handwriting motions, transforming them into customized actions. Conventional gesture detectors, such as those used in smartphones, only provide single gesture readings. In contrast, Welle provides rich information, such as trajectory data and digitized gestures, enabling a wide variety of control functions for everyday convenience.

Maxus says the device takes only a few minutes to set up using the Welle app, available for Android and iOS. Welle will sell for $99 when it becomes available in October. The company is offering several early-bird options, including an early-bird pledge price of $69.

For more information, visit kickstarter.com.