Force-Feedback Devices Provide Virtual Texture

Verteiron writes: "Saw this over at ComputerWorld. Looks like Logitech, among others, is starting to take the field of force-feedback out of the gaming world and onto the desktop. Apparently this new kind of mouse has a motor in it that can simulate various textures as you move it across your screen, letting you "feel" icons and windows. This is more than a gimmick: "people complete basic cursor-targeting tasks faster with tactile feedback". Another device featured is the Phantom, a nifty creation of SensAble Technologies. It goes one step further, allowing you to trace a fingertip across the surface of a virtual object, feeling its contours, tracing edges and even allowing you to sculpt and deform what's on the screen." Can we see support in Linux 2.6, please?

Comments

These mice are overrated.

[ChaosDiscord]

I'm used two of these mice, and they're vastly overrated.

The WingMan Force Feedback Mouse

This mouse is permenantly mounted to its "mouse pad". Movement is limited to about two inches of movement either way. The motion isn't absolute to the screen, so it's possible to end up in the middle of the screen and unable to move to the right. (You work around it by slowly moving left, then quickly moving right.) This is very frustrating.

Because the mouse is connected to the mouse pad, it can actually push back against you. It's a neat trick, but I'm not real sure about the value. When playing a game, having your mouse kick back when you fire would be distracting. Worse, being locked to the pad means that in a first person shooter, you can end up unable to turn in a direction.

Using their web browser plugin, a web page author can push your mouse around, or give a graphic a simplistic texture. Just what I need, my mouse to gravitate towards the "Purchase Now". Or, oooh, I can _feel_ the Slashdot logo. Yippee. It's got all of the apeal of a BLINK tag or a web site entirely designed in Flash.

The strangest feature is that the mouse can generate simple tones by vibrating. It's a creepy feeling. I don't want my mouse to feel like an electric razer, and I want my audio to come from my nice sound card. It's such a bad idea that I suspect it's a side effect of the design that they decided to call a feature.

The only potential advantage is that once their drive is installed, menu items subtly "click". So do links in Internet Explorer. I didn't particularly like it, but I can see it making "hitting the target" easier.

All in all, I'd rather have a nice mouse I can actually pick up.

iFeel Mouse

On the up side it is a nice optical mouse. But they sell cheaper optical mice. Because it's not attached to a mouse pad, all it can do is vibrate. You don't sense any particular texture. You don't feel it push in any direction. It just vibrates. Push it over a textured web graphic and it vibrates. Fire a gun in a game and it vibrates. Move it over a link and it vibrates. It's as complex and useful as a "rumble pack" for a console controller. Oh, and it does the vibrating tone thing, but barely audiably.

It's a lot more practically useful than the WingMan mouse, but you're still paying a premium for a silly idea. Just buy a nice optical mouse without force feedback. Logitech even makes those.

Tell me you don't see the /. potential for this...

[ackthpt]

Roblimo writes: Out of my own pocket, a free Phantom to each first poster on new articles!

Troll: Oh, yeah! [reload][reload][reload][reload][reload]...nth[rel oad] Ha! New article!
FROST PIST
[Submit]

New mail received from Roblimo@slashdot.org
Grats, send me your mailing
address and it'll be on the way!
Rob

[1 week later]
Troll: This thing rocks, I've never felt so close to Natalie Portman before! Ah, a new post.

TSRIF TSOP
(Mouse pointer moves over submit button)

WHOOMPF!
Troll: AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE! MY HAND!!!

G'wan, admit it, this idea passed through your minds...


--
Chief Frog Inspector

Kernel?

[TheTomcat]

Can we see support in Linux 2.6, please?

Wouldn't this be more of a 'Forced Feedback Driver for X' thing than a kernel support in 2.6 thing?

I wonder

[Undocumented]

How long it will be before the the Internet Explorer install routine will put speed bumps around its icon and oil slicks around other browser icons making it easier for the end user to click on Exploder as oposed to say, netscape.

Hell you could even web enable the stuff and force people to slow down over your links.

Yes moderators this is meant to be sarcastic and funny.. not trolling!

PHANTOM devices at work

[greck]

The kids at UNC have been using PHANTOM force-feedback units for years now... here are a few links to some interesting projects:

• 6-DOF Haptic Rendering
• inTouch Modeling and 3D Painting
• the nanoManipulator (the coolest, although the site is partially down)