Slashdot Mirror
The Mouse Vanishes
countertrolling sends in a clip from Wired that begins "...researchers at MIT have found a method to let users click and scroll exactly the same way they would with a computer mouse, without the device actually being there. Cup your palm, move it around on a table and a cursor on the screen hovers. Tap on the table like you would click a real mouse, and the computer responds. It's one step beyond cordless. It's an invisible mouse. The project, called 'Mouseless,' uses an infrared laser beam and camera to track the movements of the palm and fingers and translate them into computer commands... A working prototype of the Mouseless system costs approximately $20 to build, says Pranav Mistry, who is leading the project."
Once you have technology like this up and running why limit it to the X-Y axis? Being able to manipulate the interface with various gestures in three dimensions has long been a dream of science fiction. This kind of thing just brings it closer to reality.
Keep It Simple Stupid... I love my mouse, I love my trackball. It's simple, it can easily be replaced, requires almost no processing power and can be knocked on the table when it does not work, just for anger relief.
This kind of device, I guess, would require a lot more computing power to use, would eventually be integrated, and at 20 bucks for the thing, would break in the blink of an eye. Also, what about lag? I hate this 2ms - 5ms lag in the iPhone...
Please, I want to keep my hardware, plastic optical mouse.