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Help For Those With Shaky Hands
maotx writes "IBM has developed an adjustible mouse adapter that compensates for the shakes of patients with hand tumors and other causes of uncontrollable shaking. According to the International Essential Tremor Foundation, in the US alone nearly 10 million people are affected by essential tremor, the most common form of hand tremors. This adapter will plug in between the mouse and computer and is compatible with existing mice. No word on which port is supported (ps/2, usb, etc). More info here, here, and here. It is expected that IBM will sell the adapter for under $100 USD."
It is about time that somebody entered this market. I suppose that because age is a risk factor for essential tremor, the need for such a device is only going to increase given the age group that has now become completely dependent upon computers. Most folks I have known with essential tremor (and patients of mine when I was in the clinical side of things) were old enough that they did not routinely use computers. For those that did, keyboarding did not prove as much a problem as using the mouse which requires fine motor skills that often enhance the tremors. Trackballs helped these folks a bit more, but I really would like to see how these compensatory mice work for these patients.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
or you could get a really cheap mouse that isn't sensitive enough to jitter.
DOes this mean automatic improvement in FPS games for the regular gamer?
Not sure why I bother submitting corrections anymore to articles in "The mysterious future", but TFA is clearly talking about hand tremor, not "hand tumors".
Dddooo thhey haavvee oonee ffor kkey bbboarrds??.aslk /Yes I'm going to hell
Now I can surf pr0n while I've got the DT's.
I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent. - Q
According to the International Essential Tremor Foundation, in the US alone nearly 10 million people are affected by essential tremor, the most common form of hand tremors.
Yeah....from using a mouse all day.
I Want To Believe
You'd think you'd be able to smooth out mouse input in software. I admit, the platform independant aspect is nice, but still...
I wonder what kind of filtering they do for "inadvertant clicks"? Clicks associated with mouse movement? Triple clicks?
Shouldn't that be tremors?
My father has had these for decades, as he ages, and I'm seeing myself develop the same.
When I mess up, I just cuss at the computer, it's less than $100, but I suppose I could make an expensive mistake...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
It's just a hardware adapter, it can't see anything more than your mouse driver can see. Why can't we just write something like this for Windows or Linux? Seems like these companies want to sell $100 hardware device rather than let people download a $10 software package.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Another semi-obvious possible use would be to utilize similar technology to make operating a mouse on a train (or other bumpy ride) less error-prone.
I think this may help people with parkinsons although they do shake quite violently (in many cases).
If the dollar is an "I owe you nothing", then the Euro is a "Who owes you nothing." - Doug Casey
This is going to be a monopoly amongst crack-head computer users...
At least until after my first cup of coffee in the morning...
People couldn't type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this.
... would that work for the shaking associated with "one hand surfing"?!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Here's a photo of the device, and some more info. The price is $99 USD.
It's naat a tumah!
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I have to drag a pc around so I don't stutter through asking her out.
For that, you can do much better with a bit of
extra hardware. Detect vertical motion of the mouse
and sideways motion of the computer itself. When
this extra motion is detected, be less accepting of
wild mouse motion. When everything else is still,
handle mouse input in the normal way.
like for shakey the robot?
I'm gonna get one of those and couple it with my force-feedback mouse...
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
The mouse controller is being marketed by Montrose Secam Limited. It is available only for PS/2 mice at the moment, although a USB version is in the works.
A software version of the device is available at IBM Alphaworks
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
- Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Why doesnt mouse performance matter if the person is old? All of the twenty something gamers now will probably be gaming well into the 60 or 70's, and just because a person is doesnt mean that they dont deserve an accurate mousing experience.
Does Michael J Fox prefer Windows or Linuz?
Isn't that a little steep considering all this is, is probably a moving average filter implementation ???
A million monkeys and this is the best sig they could come up with...
My father's hands shake some due to essential tremors, and he uses a trackball to overcome this. With a trackball he can position the cursor where he wants and then take his thumb off the ball while he clicks so he's sure to click the right spot. His hands aren't that bad though, so I'm not sure how this would work for someone with really shaky hands.
How are you supposed to control the software or
even install the software? Right, you use the mouse.
Oh, wait...
This device comes with a big fat knob and 3 tall
switches. The worst trouble will be getting the
plug connected.
Obviously that box compensates for the jitter. Now my question is why can't someone design some software which will emulate this little "black box", and correct the tremor with an algorithm?
I bet that getting the mean (over N milliseconds) for x and y will do.
My hands always shake when I'm using p2p apps, out of fear of the RIAA finding me out. It's hard to trade the latest music and movies. Not any more! Take that, RIAA!
c) Hungover
The owls are not what they seem
Hum... let's stop thinking that the monitor is moving without control.
http://www.michel.eti.br
and other causes of uncontrollable shaking.
Nah, my mouse-hand remains pretty stable when I'm waxing my knob. Usually. Except when there's Natalie Portman on my monitor. Oh man...
My hands are shaking since I was a child and doctors say there is no direct cause for this ( ie no known disease ). And its usually tedious task to use mouse. So thank you IBM =)
Never learn by your mistakes, if you do you may never dare to try again
This also seems like a good way to sabotage your least favorite twitch gamer.
Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
It helped a lot and might be an interim step for people who are not severely shakey. The mouse was way too jumpy for them though even at low sensitivity.
Firefox &
I think this may help people with parkinsons although they do shake quite violently (in many cases).
...
... they're way cheaper at the pet store where I get them for Python programmers.
That was my first thought too - I forwarded the article link to a friend of mine who has a fairly violent tremor.
Even the medication they use doesn't help that much
But $100 for a mouse
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Unplug the coffee pot. I, too, am going to hell.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
...the mantra by which many of us live.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of Java the thoughs acquire speed, the hands acquire
shaking, the shaking becomes a warning,
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
Because from the looks of it, this device is OS inpedendent. You could use it for anything that accepts a mouse input - even devices that use propietary OS (XBox can use a mouse, can't it?), and plus: you can take hardware with you. What if your friend doesn't have that driver installed?
Out of curiosity, is this the sort of innovative invention that the slashdot crowd would agree is worthy of a patent? It's hardware, something you can physically manufacture, OS-agnostic, and there doesn't seem to be anything already like it. At least not that I'm aware of.
This causes shaking of the hands (ranging from 'ever so slight' to 'disturbing') because of a flaked out thyroid. Medication helps now but there were weird days when I couldn't use a mouse. I got one of those softball sized trackballs and used it on those days. This looks cool and could really help with people who suffer from hyp(o|er)thyroidism and Hashimoto's. The benefits are obvious for Parkinson's type diseases too.
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
I have an essential tremor, albeit a mild one. It only manifests itself severely when my muscles are tensed, like making a tight fist. Most of this time it's not a problem, but I have days when my hands are a little bit shaky and I'm prone to stray clicks. Accidentally closing a window is seriously annoying.
Tremors suck. People who have severe tremors need all the help they can get. I know someone with a severe tremor, and she has to put up with a lot of stares and sometimes hostility. Once a nurse yelled at her to HOLD STILL! while trying to take a blood sample, as if she were doing it on purpose just to piss the nurse off. Of course, the stress of that situation only made it worse.
What would really be nice would be bowls, glasses, and spoons that stay level so someone with a shaky hand could drink a martini or have some soup without spilling. Right now all they have are weighted utensils, which suck.
BTW, age is a factor, but essential tremors can happen at any age. I'm 40, and I've had this tremor for 20 years or so. Fortunately, it hasn't gotten worse.
Looks like I picked the right week to quit sniffing glue!
~Steve McCrosky
I for one would like to have an MS Explorer mouse with a not-so touchy mousewheel. I've numerous times scrolled up or down on a web page when I meant to click. There's practically no rolling resistance on the newer 5-button USB mice.
Yet I remember their 2-button(3 if you include the mousewheel itself) MS mice being pretty stiff, and hence no accidental scrolling.
Or better yet, a screw at the bottom to adjust the sensitivity.
...but only if it's Starbucks branded.
m-
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
a quick look at their site (http://www.montrosesecam.com/Products.html) yeilds a ps2 interface with usb under development. I have to say though, $100 is steep, particularly given that most folks in need of this device will be elderly and many of them are likely to be on limited/fixed incomes. It is certainly a business opportunity for IBM etal, but for those with limited cash, this great invention will very likely be yet one more potential aid that will have to be forgone because of cost.
now you can use it at the internet cafe, or at home and at work or school, or the business center at the hotel or whatever, and you don't have to wait for the world to catch up and add support in their drivers, or worry about whether the hotel is running Windows 98 still or whether your office will allow the drivers or whatnot.
It's a lot more enabling to give someone a small device that solves their problem discreetly rather than no option except to wait for the world to a) realize a problem and b) work to fix it on a wide scale.
Why can't someone design a proper UI that doesn't need a mouse ford navigation?
"brxref
One-handed-typing now easier with revolutionary palm-o-tronic anti-jitter mouse!
Hurrah for technology. Actually my father has a type of arthritis that makes using a mouse tiring on his hands, so any work on this area is great. Also as a keyboard user since I was 2 I guess I am going to mangle up my hands until I am 60. seem ok so far.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
This gizzmo will do some sort of filtering to remove the tremor. This can surely be sone with a software filter built in to the mouse driver etc. That would mean it could be given away or sold at $9.99 rather than as a $100 device.
If someone has to stump up $100 less likely they will want to and less likely they will get the benefit.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Education: Definition, term "Benign Essential Tremors": "Benign", not caused from malignancy/tumor/progressive disease; "essential", necessary or common - everyone's hands shake to some degree, it's just some (to) a lot more noticeable in some of us; "Tremors", shaking or vibratory motions.
There are many of us who are not geriatric, alcoholic, diabetic, epileptic, or otherwise impaired who will welcome this device as an alternative to keeping mouse sensitivity at minimum.
(Oh, and yes, I *do* suck at FPS games, and I *do* find it frustrating, as it's one of the ways I spend quality time (time *they* enjoy) with my sons)
Take the 90-Day Challenge! http://rwmurker.bodybyvi.com/
If you want stiff resistance for the scroll wheel. Get a Logitech MX510, it works b-a-utifully. IMHO.
http://www.hollowdepth.com
Good thing Picasso never had one of these...
A most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a bit.
Or suffering from caffeine and sugar withdrawal. In fact, this could be a scheme to put the softdrink companies out of business.
What keeps me going is my inertia.
I have a minor case of these tremors stemming from chemotherapy a few years back. Using a mouse is semi-annoying, especially to game with. However I have a Logitech trackball with the ball controlled by my thumb. My thumb doesn't shake much so it works great.
Low pass filters go for $100 these days(yes, i am oversimplifying a little).. If this product is successful, somebody will produce something cheaper using a different method. Really, I don't see the reason for an adapter, just build it into the mouse controller.
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
136 posts and nobody even touched on whether the trembly users are being discriminated against by mouse vendors. Admittedly, IBM has done a Good Thing (tm) by coming out with this solution, but you'd expect a halfway decent mouse-maker with a conscience to offer it FREE with his mouse. Or at least a hell of a lot cheaper than a hundred bucks! For crying out loud - a Hundred bucks? Thats 25% of the cost of a decent desktop! BAH!
See that long UID - that's what you get for lurking too long
Gotta wonder if it would help out FPS snipers, though if it introduces latency that would be questionable..
My father, who once could program assembler with his eyes closed, fights against his essential tremor every day just to surf and send emails. This very day, he went out and spent $100 on a trackball in hopes that this would solve the problem, but was stressed that if it doesn't, he's out of luck. I've ordered one of these for him, and it can't arrive soon enough.
You are exactly right. Having a separate, hardware-based solution has several advantages over software.
1) I would expect an 80 year-old would find it much more convenient to adjust a physical device with a couple of obvious toggle switches and a big dial than to somehow cope with settings burried in a control panel somewhere.
2) John Doe can send one to his Aunt Tillie 1200 miles away and have a reasonable expectation that she will be able to install this device on her own.
3) Spyware and/or other corrupt system issues can't turn it off or make it go haywire.
I can't believe all these "this is a scam!" and "just do it in software posts!" Especially given point #2 -- I thought there were more people on Slashdot who've suffered through dealing with real-world technical support. I guess not.
Whoever designed level 61 in Frozen Bubble is a sadistic bastard.
You could turn the sensitivity down as others suggested. I'm not to wild about that idea, it makes someone with an unsteady hand have to move that hand even more.
But why not just get a trackball?
Get your Unix fortune now!
I thought that same thing as soon as I read the article. Should be fairly straight forward to provide a software means for doing this. Simply average the mouse's movements over a short period of time that you adjust based on the frequency or your tremor, then align the pointer based on that average. Or adjust some scale that is based on the range of motion a tremor produces.
man, I feel like mold.
Shouldn't the link font be extra large for this?
My wife and I are galloping into middle age, and yes, computers are HARD to use as you age. Tiny type that can be read by a 16-year-old, but no one older, but what is worse, over-sensitive input devices (yes , the mouse!).
We use large type and trackballs (thanks Logitech!) and definitely recommend trackballs to all of our contemporaries and elders.
Some kind of compensating mouse will be of little use to people who do graphic drawing, where good precision is needed. Any who anyway decreed that an icon had to be hit exactly on the pixel, in order to work?
Oh yes, double click, too, needs to be changed.
I don't see why they couldn't make something like this using software? I imagine it just nullifies all small eratic movements and sends the more general movements to the computer. It doesn't seem that complicated to me...
or else!
Couldn't this issue be solved programmatically? It could be calibrated then adjust to the movement of the hands. Seems logical to me. With the right algorithm, you could write a program that would correct the mouse coordinates every 1/10 second or so. Why would anyone need a 100 dollar (or less) stand-alone device when they could have a small freeware program? Just a thought. :)
TFA mentions tremors, but no tumors. I guess someone here misstyped this one and/or doesn't know the difference.
I've been in the customer service end of a large VISP for about 4 years. This product will definitely be helpful to a lot of the people I talk to. It's pretty frustrating both for my self and the customer to have to "talk" them through clicking an icon or button.
Unfortunately a lot of these people are on social security and a hundred bucks for a mouse just isn't in the cards. The people in the demographic for this product that would most beneifit from the internet (unable to afford or physically withstand a lot of travel) will unfortunatley also often be those least likely to be able to afford the price.
Hmmm...maybe they could charge it to their insurance. You can get around more on the internet than in one of those "Jazzy" electric wheel chairs.
m
About 6 years ago I tried mounting a gyro-mouse to a helmet to see if it would be suitable to give my arms a rest, since I suffer from a repetitive stress disorder in both arms. (A gyro mouse is a hand-held mouse that you wave in the air to move the cursor rather than moving it across a flat surface).
It was futile, I quickly discovered, because my head (and everyone else's) has a subtle jittery motion that I didn't know about until I tried this experiment. It makes the cursor erratic.
Hands have much finer control, and doubly so when they're pushing a mouse across a stable surface. For that reason, the hand-held gyro mouse works pretty well, and standard surface mice work extremely well.
So now I wonder if this product (the motion smoothing aspect of it) could be used to make a do-it-yourself head-mounted mouse.
I know there are already head-mounted products available, and at least some of them probably use similar algorithms, but last I checked--several years ago--the prices for quality head-tracking was quite high, and most of them used cameras or similar sensors to track wearable "dots" or your eyes.
Help at last for Mary Anne?
But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
I think the submitter meant hand tremor not hand tumor, but maybe both would cause problems.
:(
Yeah, I had just finished reading an article about a tumor. Checked what I wrote twice and both times it escaped me
I'm a virgo and on Slashdot. Coincidence? Yes.