Physical keys may be obsolete one day, as an "invisible key" could hit the market after six months.

A team of Taiwanese researchers have developed a device that would unlock doors through hand gestures only, the head of the team announced Monday.

"In the future, you won't have to worry about losing or forgetting your keys," said Tsai Yao-Pin, who teaches at the Technology and Science Institute of Northern Taiwan.

At the core of the invisible key technology is a chip that acts like a sensor, detecting movement in three dimensions, just like in Nintendo's Wii video game console, Tsai said.

Users would unlock their doors by acting out a gesture preset in the sensor, according to Tsai.

The invisible key won him a gold medal at the four-day Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart which ended Sunday, according to News.com.au.

The news report further said, Tsai estimated that it make take half a year for the invention to go commercial as several interested companies have approached him.