Gyroscopic Mouse

Aron Schatz writes "You've heard of wireless mice, but how about deskless ones? This baby doesn't need a suface of any kind to be used. This one comes direct from Gyration."

Comments

Not so new

[Spuffin]

I have a GyroPoint Pro sitting right here. It's a wireless as well as deskless mouse. Also it's from the same company, Gyration. Only thing that makes this one differ is when I searched for the date... 1995.

Re:inertia and power and calibration

[tramm]

1. I thought gyroscopes had to have some mass in relation the forces applied to them in order to stay oriented. It seems like a light 'scope could easily be knocked out of whack easily in a handheld device.

It uses Piezo gyros that are angular rate sensors, not vertical references. There is no flywheel to introduce weird mass effects. Anyway, most flywheel gyros are mechanized in gymbals so that they do not exert any force; instead they remain stationary and can be used for a vertical reference.

2. These 'scopes would require lots of power to keep spinning.

They're solid state and have almost no moving parts. The Murata ENC05-E sensors used in the older ones draw 2 mA. The MG100 used in the new ones draws about 20 mA.

3. How do you orient this thing to begin with?

It only senses change in angular position, not absolute position. That means that there is no orientation required.

Gyration has more details on their technology online. I evaluated the gyros for use in my GPL autopilot project, but decided on the Tokin CG-16D units instead.