Much of the control of Morbius’ highly technological house is given to wave-over switches. These devices sit on the tops of tables, and illuminate briefly when they detect a hand moving above them. Each is keyed to a different job.
Alta must beam Robbie several times before he arrives.
One of these devices summons Robbie. After waving her hand several times over it, Alta expresses her frustration when Robbie finally arrives. “Where have you been?” she asks, “I’ve beamed and beamed.” It hints at the need for some feedback from Robbie that he has heard the summons and is coming.
With a wave of his hand Morbius activates the security shutters around his house.
Another hand wave device closes or opens the protective metal shutters that seal Morbius’ house.
To see the outdoors better, Morbius waves off the indoor lights.
Another one allows him to turn off interior lights, which he uses in the film to see what is approaching so noisily.
One interesting fact of these interfaces is that they lack any affordance for their cause and effect. How is a new user meant to know to wave? How would she know what would happen as a result? Though this is generally inadvisable, we can imagine that Morbius only ever planned for he and Alta to use it.