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Gyroscopic Mouse

Posted by michael on from the only-a-six-hour-charge dept.

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."

14 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Logitech by bigethespe · · Score: 3, Informative

    Didn't logitech make something similar to this with a track ball on it? I think it was called the "surfman" or something like that - really cool... had like a 20' range from the reciever box.

  2. Not so new by Spuffin · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  3. That's all well and good... by peterpi · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... but most people do actually have a desk; it's what they put their monitor on!

  4. tiredness by elizard2k · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know about this. I can see my arm getting pretty tired after a while (LOTS of hours) of swinging and pointing with the mouse.
    That's the advantage of a desk mouse, you can rest your arm.

    Then again, lots of geeks wouldn't find this a problem due to the extensive use of their right arm, what's a little more going to do? :p

    --
    - mescaline - its the only way to fly -
    1. Re:tiredness by spencerogden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The article says it has an optical sensor as well. So you can use it as a desk mouse, and then use it in the air if/when you want/need to.

      --

      Spencer Ogden

  5. Uhmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The OPTICAL version is new... I have one of these with a mouseball.

  6. Re:Been around for a while? by Mr+Guy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Silly man, those where "pucks". Entirely different. See, these are MICE.

    Differences include what order they occur in alphabetically and number of letters.

    --
    Never confuse volume with power.
  7. Almost there ... by Fehson · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now once we get rid of the user too, we'll have the ultimate computer.

  8. Wow! by Anonymous+Squonk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Combine this with the one-handed keyboard and a pocket-sized computer, and you can look like a complete moron walking down the street!

  9. Re:These are sooooo last millenium... by beleg777 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do you remember the optical mice of that same time period? I ask because you could say the exact same thing about optical mice, provided you hadn't used a new one.

    --

    Science may someday discover what faith has always known.
  10. mouse by austad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    These have been around for awhile. We have them in some of our conference rooms, and we got them over 2 years ago. They're pretty cool for playing Q3 on the 12 foot screen. :) It's very easy to aim with it as you just hold down the trigger and point it at what you want to shoot, much easier than moving a regular mouse to aim.

    --
    Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
  11. Three Dimensional Mice by sam_handelman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you add another gyroscope (perpendicular to the first one) you have a three dimensional mouse.

    Now, the big advantage of a three dimensional mouse doesn't come into play with present technology; the big trick with three dimensional mice would come up if you could map O directly onto the spatial centers of the subject's.... er, user's, brain. This is not as hard as you might hope... er, think. However, experiments with monkey's controlling a pixel notwithstanding, reading someone's nervous system to get I is gonna be pretty quirky and unreliable. Therefore, you want a three dimensional mouse.

    Oh, and, also:
    You won't notice any problems unless your on the computer straight for 8 hours a day.

    Who the hell does he think buys gyroscopic mice?!?!?! Okay, some of the same yuppies who buy Parka's good to -40* Centigrade and never Manhattan. They buy them. Mostly, however, it's people who use their computers all the time! Using your computer for eight hours at a stretch isn't good for you (and ever single person on slashdot should stop doing it!) but I need it as an option, and I don't need to have to replace my mouse at 3 AM in order to keep working.

    --
    The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
  12. Doh... by T3kno · · Score: 3, Funny

    Crap, how can I click for the next picture when the mouse pointer keeps moving from the top of my screen to the bottom.

    --
    (B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
  13. Re:inertia and power and calibration by tramm · · Score: 5, Informative
    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.

    --
    -- http://www.swcp.com/~hudson/