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Cutting Edge Computer Interfaces?
Senate Staffer asks: "I am doing some research for U.S. Senator on technology advancements, specifically in the field of computer interfaces. Human-Computer interface tools have not changed for quite some time. The keyboard was grandfathered from the type-writer, and although there have been advancements (ergonomic designs, different key layouts, even different shapes), the basic function has not changed. The mouse was a major new advancement for computers, and again, although there have been advancements (track-balls, optical mice, trackpads, etc) the function has remained the same. What cutting edge technologies are being researched today and where? What technologies are currently available to consumers, and what technologies are on the horizon?"
THIS is how our legislators get info? Through Ask /.?
The latest Slashdot meme.
Virtual orgasm.
These people have always been at the forefront of HCI design...
Xerox PARC laboratory projects
and
Some more projects
I'm not well versed on it, but check Wikipedia for information on haptics. I remember seeing a pen-like control device at the SIGGRAPH conference this year, that would track your movements with it in 3D space. Combined with force feedback, they described future implementations of this as incredible tools for surgeons, which I suppose it could be. Fun for 3D desktops and games, too.
For the blind, voice recognition and synthesis is becoming more and more advanced. I imagine a (near) future day when more and more non-blind people will interact with their voice and ears.
I'd also look into all the research that has been done in various disorders and disabilities that have to do with viewing, hearing, typing, and moving a mouse. Some of these things have made it into mainstream use. For instance, the research done to make colors more visible to the colorblind has affected how (professional) people design websites nowadays.
Take for instance what has been done for those people mostly paralyzed or incapable of controlling their extremities. We have technology to track ones eyes. One day, we won't have to use mice to control a cursor or select things. Just look and blink.
Combine this with voice recognition, we'll be able to look at a text form widget, and say the words to fill in, then blink to hit "submit".
One other system that is important is handwriting and OCR. Being able to write in boxes in a paper form and then scan that image in, having the computer read the form, is a breakthrough. It isn't being used much yet, but I think it is going to be used more and more.
I strongly believe that in the future, we'll have to understand computers less and less because they will understand us more and more. The pinnacle of computing is when we will relate to computers the same way people relate to each other. When they understand every nuance, every motion, every word, and even the intonation, then we will have made a computer that no one has to understand to use.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
You mentioned trackpads, but the stuff from fingerworks goes a bit beyond this and supports a gesturing interface. I've used one for about a year and bought several as backups (the thing is incredibly durable) just because I know I'll never be able to live without it again.
I also recall a demo -- sorry, no link -- that used webcam-style cameras to watch eye movements and use that as part of the active window selection process. There was another demo at Intel Developer Forum last year that did something similar, but turned off a notebook's display when you weren't looking at it to save power.
I have a lot of trouble believing that this is real. Come on. Why exactly would a Senator care about something as mundane as I/O, instead of P2P or something that is actually a hot topic right now?
Please bail me out.
Does anyone have the link to the cell that had sensors attached to it, and it was flying a flight simulator?
Okay, so you have your keyboard interface. This is always undergoing some modification, sometimes radical, most times less so. The standard QWERTY layout vs Dvorak, of course, but then you have your ergonomic vs straight layout argument, as well as chording keyboards, keyboards drawn with light, keyboards that can fold up, keyboards with decent keys (Hello, Model M, I love you!), etc.
:)
You gotcher mouse, trackball, and mutant variations and combinations thereof, including tablets. Add force feedback and stir, where appropriate (slow down the mouse over window controls, etc.). Oh yeah, don't forget the whole wireless vs wired argument, plus security or lack thereof implied therein.
You gotcher touchscreens (icky), and yer voice command, and then, we come at last to voice recognition and haptic interfaces.
The thing is, humans have a limited number of ways to enter information, and depending on the nature of the information, it's going to probably have to come down to keyboards or voice recognition (or handwriting recognition) for _entering_ information.
For _manipulating_ information, you have a lot more choices, but doing so efficiently depends heavily on the nature of the information being manupulated. If you're editing a video, the appropriate efficient interface is probably going to be vastly different from that of editing plain text. And there's always going to be a personal preference entering the equation (e.g. some prefer trackballs over mice, some prefer pen & tablet over either).
I don't want an interface that uses scent or taste, thanks.
There aren't a whole lot that come to mind, and I think that's the problem.
Somebody once said, though I can't remember the book, that a word processor did most of the same things it does now, twenty years ago, except that now we have rounded corners. The illustration is vague, but it serves to point out that there haven't been huge breakthroughs in the way we work, despite incredibly advanced technologies sitting on our doorstep. Whether this is good or bad, make your own call.
I, personally, think there are better solutions to things like top-screen menus, and file management. The number one question I get asked about in various levels of IT support is what damn function is in what damn menu. It's hard for many people to remember which functions belong to which menus, especially because we have so many menus that give no clue to the functions they hold -- e.g., File->Exit is a holdover from the days when you couldn't open more than one document. Similarly, Edit->Preferences is a good guess, except that most people associate Edit with file content, not program-level preferences, especially when there's often another menu under Tools for different options.
There's got to be a better way, said some guy, hopefully soon.
I always find it interesting that if we had taken any modern system back to 1985, the interface features that would be most ooed at would be the eyecandy, but not the productivity of the interface, since that's largely stayed the same. We still use a point and click interface for everything, and we still hold the contents of our programs in a computer-oriented interface, not a human-oriented interface -- the window. Clever solutions exist for rebottling some of these problems, e.g., scroll wheels on mice, different keyboards and input devices, and Expose, but it's still a situation that could be radically different. I'm just not sure how yet.
Many of the technologies we use now are no different than the ones created in the 1970s to solve these problems, but things have changed. An increasing number of novice users, handicapped users, etc., make many of these solutions a little too narrow. E.g., my mother, who is nearly blind and uses a screenreader, has pointed out many problems I would have never thought of as anything but accessibility issues, but they're not -- they're all interface design issues.
Now, I'm not suggesting that we talk to our computers tomorrow and then Hack Teh Gibson with our nintendo powergloves, but many of these interfaces are arcane. I'd like to see more seamless, fluid transition between programs, for example -- I should be able to use the text-editing features of Word when submitting a comment, or I should be able to insert Flash documents into my background art if I own Flash. More modular.
I'm just not sure how to do it yet.
I think with people gathering more data, and data warehousing coming to your house (pics/movies/music/etc). Being able to find your data is the next advance. This is why Microsoft is working on a new file system for longhorn and why Google released a desktop search engine.
:)
As for the GUI, I think its more autocomplete of processes, to reduce manual steps.
The biggest problem I see is forcing interactive moments on a busy user. Nothing is worse in the middle of typing a document and a popup window of some kind, flash in the tool tray until im ready.
And with people multitasking, I dont need a program to tell me its done in the middle of working on something else.
Displaying information while not forcing the user to interact is the next step. We are doing much more than before, multiple programs, multiple tasks, we need to curb the "In your face" attitude of the Gui.
While AI with interactive voice chat would be nice, unless its a virtual lawyer that can answer my questions or a hot stripper, I doubt I'm going to be using voice chat on a operational process.
Voice chat for games is another thing, when your busy, you cant stop to type, talking to the group saves time, and reaction time is quicker.
Of course these are my thoughts and views of current trends. Microsoft research and Cambridge labs are good places to check out. Cambridge ran the research lab that helped oversee VNC and other cool products, under Olivetti and then ATT Labs.
I think there is much more work todo in the modern desktop before we go onto new user input/output methods.
Top hottest things, tabs, info bars, task switching, searching, auto-complete, realtime filtering (spellcheck/etc), history of input, sharing of data with other hard (bluetooth/etc) are IMHO the current impressive new features. And if not new, just easier use or new methods of using the same procedures in a differnt way.
Too bad 2005 isnt going to see many new features, end of year with dual core, new gfx cards, the hardware to take advantage will launch 2006 for new features. But at least with SLI and faster CPUs, this year will be good for gaming until we get there.
Such as these. We have some here in the lab at school that I had a chance to play with, really interesting. Applications include training surgeons, 3D modelling, and no doubt many others.
Companies like SGI spend a lot of time and money working on visualization systems that allow for multiple people to be immersed in a synthetic 3D world. SGI's Reality Center wall room systems are quite impressive.
You want great advances in computer interfaces? I think this company is definately what you're looking for...
http://www.onzin.nl/fufme/index.shtml
It's Senate Staffer's friend's Slashdot nick.
I think the new interfaces you are looking for are in the exciting (literally) new field of Cyberdildonics. Such wonderful new interfaces as the Robosuck, Vibro Mr. Jack, etc.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
Was it slashdot or Wired [or perhaps both!] which had an article regarding preliminary research into direct mental control of computers? I don't remember too well. The actual article was interesting, as the researcher in question [at Duke iirc?] managed to learn/devise something unexpected. They had gotten to the point where the chimp could control a robotic arm via neural implants.
"Even still, I think these problems require a radically new way of thinking about the future of computing. They can't be solved with a new window manager, or a tiny new input device, we have to think about what people will be doing 20 years down the road, and redesign. E.g., the mouse and keyboard are completely useless and space-inefficient at anything but a desk. Speakable commands, maybe, but who knows? I think the next innovations will be something so wildly different it will be both "duh, why didn't we think of this before" and "this looks completely different"."
The problem with everyone's WOW! interface is that they fail the litmus test of practicality.
http://lemonodor.com/archives/000103.html
http://lemonodor.com/archives/000441.html
Maybe instead of trying to invent something new. Let's say that we try using what never really saw the light of day.
Aside from the listing in the original article there are a few more
Several posts have listed voice recognition and speech synthesis. This is great for the blind, disabled, or those of us with carpel tunnel and eye strain. Combined with translation software it can provide a great advantage to communications, and even has military applications. Google "Phraselator". Troops use it to translate a limited number of phrases into Arabic or whatever. Definitely a field where better software and more computing power could make a difference.
Gesture is another input interface where you don't need to be tied to a keyboard. The Sony Eye Toy is a crude version of this. Advances in machine vision are needed to move this foreword. Existing "VR glove" versions are unlikely to break into the main stream.
Biofeedback is an interesting case. The idea of manipulating a device just by "thinking" does have its appeal. The military has looked into this partially because a fighter jet already has too many buttons and switches.
Sound positioning is another one the military looked at for similar reasons. Games can already use surround sound to let you know that the monster is behind you.
3D displays have been worked on for a long time. Most still require goggles or have to be viewed from a specific angle. Electronics manufacturers develop systems for gamers and other consumers, universities want to model complex molecules in 3D.
Another immersive environment is being surrounded by screens. Look for articles on the CAVE virtual environment.
A heads up display (HUD) overlays computer data on the real world. The main down sides are that it tends to obstruct view and the wearable versions make you look like a dork.
There hasn't been much new stuff that I've seen. There are a few updates to old ideas (optical mice, for example), and a few reassignments of old devices to new uses - scroll-wheels on mice should be familiar to anyone who has played Arkanoid. There have been a lot of old ideas that have just recently become refined and/or cheap enough to reach the consumer market, such as touchscreens and tablets.
But I haven't seen anything truly new - and no, 3D mice don't count.
I think the issue is that there are no new problems that demand new solutions. The keyboard came about when we found a need to control mechanical writing machines. The mouse came about when someone figured out that we need to have a way to "pick" widets on a graphical display.
Voice recognition is neat, but I don't honestly consider it a viable option for how I will communicate with my computer day-to-day. Honestly, even if we redesign computer interfaces to be more easily controlled by voice, a day of listening to the guy sitting next to me in the office say, "delete file. . . run Word. . . open foo-proposal-dot-doc" would drive me insane, and anybody who even thinks about using voice recognition to control their computer on an airplane is going out the nearest emergency exit as soon as we hit cruising altitude. And a keyboard is still going to be the main device for programmers unless magic happens and everyone agrees that AppleScript really isn't such a shitty language after all.
With all that in mind, I think that the only way anything new is going to happen is if someone is actively trying to come up with an entirely new form of user interface. It's going to come out of some obsucre research group in a big company the way the mouse and GUI did, or it's going to be a natural offshoot of some genius professor's pet project. Either way, I doubt it's going to be something anybody is working towards with state-of-the-art computers and interfaces in mind, because the fact of the matter is that the keyboard and mouse (or stylus - which (barring handwriting recognition) is the same thing anyway) are the best we have right now.
That said, the thing I would really like to have is a decent system for tracking where I'm looking that will work with anyone who sits down at the computer, no matter what their posture. With that in place, I want to replace all of the old window focusing schemes with "focus follows eyes." I'd still want to use the mouse for selecting text boxes and clicking on things, though.
"Wouldnt asking Slashdot the largest geek forum better than paying a bunch of college kids making phone calls blindly from the phone book?"
And yet both of you leave out the obvious. The HCI forums on Usenet. When I wanted to know about Lisp. I went to a Lisp forum. When I wanted to know about Smalltalk. I went to the Smalltalk forum. When you want to know something about HCI. You go to...
The first is the haptic glove line from Immersion Corp. At my old office we had a Sensable Phantom, which was somewhat neat in a "that's completely useless" sort of way, but this one really excites me. If the market for these grew and the price came down, I think it would be a great breakthrough for games and other simulations in particular. Imagine playing Black & White with one of these!
The second is an entire new field, combining bioinformatics and computing closer than ever. Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a burgeoning field, with a lot of research being done at universities such as Duke. I'm sure you've all heard of things such as the rhesus monkey controlling a robot arm via neurosensors embedded in its brain, for instance. There are also less intrusive methods available utilising EEG, such as the headbands from IBVA, cheesy as they may be. Obviously, though, these latter technologies don't have the same potential quality as their intrusive counterports.
And a third I thought of while writing this is Nintendo. Really. Their DS system has a lot of innovative features, what with its built in touchpad and microphone, and lack of mouse and keyboard, which means "traditional" methods are out of the question. Who knows what they're planning with their Revolution system? If it's something in the same vein, I think it will be a great boon for HCI. Of course, some of these could turn out to be flukes, but simply having someone with the exposure and resources of Nintendo (and their third parties) so actively involved in experimental input methods is very exciting.
My Daddy came up with a good idea recently. Using one of those CyberGlove-type things, one could enter information into a computer using deaf-dumb sign language using a trained AI program. He says it would probably be faster than keyboard input. I'm working on it for my 5th Form science project..
garble
Looked at those Finderworks products and they look sweet. A little expensive but the gesturing interface is not only intuitive.
[q] How is the feel of the keyboard though? Is the keyboard textured in any way so you can feel where home row is or do you have to look down to find home?
Cool with the Mac Laptop keyboard replacement too.
Doooh! - Tydo... er ...Typo
see this site, it gooood.
m l
http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.ht
look at GNOME HIG
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/
check out 3Ddesktop at:
http://desk3d.sourceforge.net/index.php
Just always remember, If I can work without jumping over to the mouse, I get more work done.
How about a stand-up desk tax cut?
I find it sad that all we can do today is sit on our asses and do 'research' into the past instead of building the future. When I look at the sad, limp, life- and passion-less state of today's "research" (no revolutions whatsoever in 40 years), I just feel like we have lost something in our culture.
in favor of laser projection systems which allow you to interact with the projected image. And you won't really think of it as interacting with a computer.
Re voice interfaces, Intel has been saying that it will be around the time CPUs hit the 10 GHz range.
Ask me about my vow of silence!
Much of the cutting edge research in user interfaces, both in software and hardware, has been published at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. Take a gander at the last five years, starting from the 2004 conference site.
I have several of the iGesture pads, and love them. I got the keyboard, but frankly it was too far of a stretch for me. I supposed I would have gotten used to it if I'd given it more time -- others have raved about the keyboard as well -- but it's simply a flat lexan surface with a tiny bump on two letters on the home row. There's a very slight roughness to it so that's it's not glass smooth, but that's it.
The problem I had with the keyboard primarily is that I have pretty lazy fingers, and if you don't touch the surface correctly -- that is, if you rest one or two fingers on it -- the keyboard interprets this as typing. It's a zero-pressure interface, and if fact it works best with the lightest of touches. I'm sure with more training it'd get there. The keyboard has a much larger gesture library on it.
It's also somewhat large (I use a happy hacking keyboard along with the iGesture as my primary interface, so everything else is huge in comparison.)
Both the keyboard and the pad can have additional gestures added to them, if you wish. I primarily use the pad for navigating very large spreadsheets and editing text files, and it's makes it a breeze as two fingers it behaves as a mouse, and one finger it sends arrow keystrokes; this feature alone sold me on it.
http://www.hitl.washington.edu
Especially the braille buttons on a drive-through ATM. The day I see a blind guy using a drive-through ATM I'm giving up computers to make a living making childrens toys.
Ed Almos
Budapest, Hungary
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. - Tacitus, 56-120 A.D.
If you're looking for cutting edge HCI research, go to where the researchers are: the universities. Here's a pretty exhaustive directory of HCI educational links, university departments, etc.
I'm currently taking some HCI grad school courses at Tufts, and the department head is doing a lot of work in the field of Tangible User Interfaces .
really? wow... that's reallywow.
Original poster - if you want some honest insight into where we are headed (or should be headed) : look to fiction. I recommend the following works in order to give a good recommendation as to where the dollars could be best invested for a brighter tomorrow :
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It pays particular attention to the user interface of tomorrow, and the dangers of letting one entity own all the bandwidth (and the dangers of off-shoring.)
Neuromancer by William Gibson. He invented the phrase 'Cyberspace' in this book. He offers up a strong vision of next generation user interface.
Johnny Mnemonic, movie based on a story by William Gibson. Offers up a strong vision of next generation user interfaces including a fiber optic plug in the back of your skull. Some material shared with Neuromancer, a nice visual representation.
The first Matrix movie. Watch it again.
The Sixth Day, movie with Arnold, came out 5 years ago. In particular pay attention to the holographic woman generator (get me one of those.)
If you wonder if fiction really drives reality - it doesn't. It does a pretty good job of predicting the future reality, however, as we can see from Dick Tracy (watch / communicators), Asimov's writings about robots, and Batman (nerds with incredible computer rigs in their basement (decorated to look like a 'cave'), sitting at the computer in their underware.)
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
the twiddler is a one handed keyboard and pointing device. proficient users are able to type faster than qwerty keyboards enable. used in wearable computers, and just cool.
unfortunately the #$@$'s are charging $200+. thankfully i'm out of college soon and will hopefully be making money after that. anyone rouge dev shacks looking for a world class hacker + ace communicator?
myren
I'd say whoever puts some research into how to write the UI for voice input and does it right will be well ahed of the game in a few years.
T.J. Schmitz - the man, the myth, the legend - o
One person who is a quadriplegic recently (this past year) had a chip implanted. He can now control things by thinking about it.
Here are some other articles from a google and some things I have marked...
Freud might say that Intelligent Design is religion's ID.
I keep that link by my bedside at all times. Funny that you think I'm joking. I honestly do.
From what I hear from pals, much of the interesting interface work is in ubiquitous computing. The basic notion is that we're reaching the end of the era where the computer is an appliance that you go to like a stove or a refrigerator. Instead, computers get woven more closely into everyday life, including handhelds, wearables, and smart furniture. Although today it's mainly science fiction and art projects, I'm hearing interesting stories from friends about research prototypes.
I'd suggest a virtual reality 3D interface, but it's pretty clear that the White House and Congress are operating in a virtual reality already .
I just hope their next level isn't called "Knee Deep In The Dead".
September 2011: Looking for Cocoa/iOS work in Boston area Cocoa Programmer Quincy, MA
Granted, it has limits but the tech hasn't come out of the shop enough to be really explored- http://web.media.mit.edu/~jpatten/audiopad/ There have been several like it in the last few years with lots of neat uses- mostly design your own interface on the fly or planning /flowcharting apps.
Firefox &
The old Trikorder's seemed pretty cool, some kind of PDA on steriods and apparently kitted out with a variety of sensors such that it could record vast amounts of scientific data, audio, video, and who knows what else it did.
Later Trek's seemed to show you more of a touchscreen type display using something akin to LCARS. It's probably just Debian or Gentoo, however many years down the road.
Alien computers always seem to be either panels covered with glowing glyphs which one presses, or else large clusters of crystals which one waves one's hand over. Alien glyphs don't sound very user-friendly, but the crystal thing doesn't sound too bad. The crystal type devices usually involve holograph projectors also, which is definately a desirable feature.
The Borg's are presumably "jacked in" all the time, and you can see what happened to them, so make what you will of it.
Clickety Click
1-Holodeck, you get a full virtual suit with helmet, gloves, foots etc... (like in the Lawnmower movie) 2-3D holographic projector with humanoid interactive interface, you just ask the humanoid what you want him to do and he does it(like in the Andromeda sci-fi series).
I've been doing research (non origional) recently on the subject and would suggest looking into Intlligent User Interfaces (IUI). Most of the research in this field is more future oriented but there is always speech recognition software. Of course this technology has a long way to go to reach conversational proficiency. I believe that at some time in the next few decades computers won't have files to open or hard drives to format, but there will be a personal assistant 'living' in the computer. I would suggest reading the Winter 2001 AI Magazine.
I have a Fingerworks keyboard I'm typing this with right now and I love it. If this thing ever breaks I'll buy a new one the same day. I spend a lot of time at my computer, like many of us, and I realized right away that three hundred bucks was a triviality when compared to the utility of this keyboard. It is well worth the money.
The only thing that is difficult about this keyboard is -- and this will sound strange -- typing. Everything else is easy. "Everything else" means the gestures, I guess: the keyboard comes with a vast and well-designed set of pre-programed gestures and alternate key meanings to make OS control easy. I also customized mine with some special gestures to bring up other UI enhancements I have added to my computer, making using my computer very much easier than it was out of the box.
Typing is hard to get used to. First of all, the buttons aren't aligned like a regular keyboard and that takes getting used to. Well, maybe I should say misaligned: regular keyboards are really hard for me to use now -- why do they put the keys all offset like that? Anyway, it is hard to hit every key correctly on this keyboard at first but my typing speed is as fast or maybe faster as before on regular keyboards. I've had this Fingerworks keyboard for a few months now. It is extremely low impact and, surprisingly, I don't miss the 'clickiness' of a regular keyboard at all (as I thought I would).
Mmmm -- also: My wrists hurt before I bought this keyboard and they don't anymore. And something that isn't clear from the website is that the keyboard is very pleasantly small. It fits square on a lap and isn't lopsided. Having the delete key under my left thumb is AWESOME -- all keyboards should be like that. Oh, yes, there are little dots on the home row to feel the home row and keep your hands aligned. I think the keyboard would benefit from vey slight indentations in the center of the keys so that I could get constant tactile a feedback when typing, but really I'm used to it.
It's a good product. Buy it. I say that without reserve.
There's tax dollars well-spent asking Slashdot.
Would anyone complain if we switched to some sort of enhanced sign language and the eyetoy for an interface a decade from now? Students could start using it now. We'd need enhanced for computer functions. Peripheral makers would never go for it, sure, but it would be a lot cheaper for businesses, and even help some of the disabled (since virtually everyone would have to learn). I love typing, but it seems signing (which I don't even do) has a set of shortcuts for words, is portable, sanitary and easier to internationalize. But then, I'm not sure about speed and ease of training (never have signed myself).
"why not let the Senator know that the people he's supposedly representing think copyright has gotten out of hand and software patents exist only to serve as corporate welfare."
That's your job. Or did you forget what citizens are suppose to do in a democracy?
This seems like an odd line of inquiry for a US Senator, as other posters have alluded.
I'm interested in hearing the explanation behind this inquiry.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
You are using grandfathered in a strange sense.
ITYM that the typewriter interface was the father of the computer keyboard.
3D and speech have been in the works as I/O interfaces since the 60's. Neither seem destined to replace the current devices. The problem is that they lack the precision of typing and pointing devices. Speech has had inroads in the telephone area where the alternative is the keypad.
The best interface in current use which has not been applied to computers is ASL. The deaf currently read/type messages, but I've often thought that the fluidity of signing is far more elegant and should be translatable to a graphical medium.
That said, the thing I would really like to have is a decent system for tracking where I'm looking that will work with anyone who sits down at the computer, no matter what their posture. With that in place, I want to replace all of the old window focusing schemes with "focus follows eyes." I'd still want to use the mouse for selecting text boxes and clicking on things, though
This reminded me of something I remember seeing a while back. It was this device for people with muscular dystrophy (md) so that they could type/talk. What it would do is track where their eyes are looking at on a 26 'key' 'keyboard' that was about 2 or 3 feet across (and about 4 feet from their head). There were two sensors that would track the eyes and interpret which letter they were looking at for input into the computer. They could get a letter/character every 2-3 seconds as I recal. Adding something like this to my computer in place of a mouse would be nice. If they could get the response time up quick enough. And by quick, I mean so that it takes me more time to move my mouse than it does to get this thing to do the action. Although, I don't think I would mind being able to play Quake with it either.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
say nouse
Gorilla arm.