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Above is a video of what could be the next generation of computer interface. It is obviously very raw but if it were mounted in a mouse shaped device and made wireless it could be a winner. Actually it would be very similar to the Wiimote since the Wiimote uses accelerometers to read controller movement and Bluetooth to transmit that data to the controller.
Popular Science gave an invention award to the ring mouse. It uses ultrasonic pulses to detect the position of the ring and moves the cursor accordingly. Which technology, if any, do you think will come out on top?
See more details of the ring mouse below.
“Although the system looks a bit rough, it works flawlessly. A small speaker on the ring pumps out ultrasonic pulses, picked up by five microphones arrayed on a piece of plywood. A central processor calculates the ring’s position in space based on when each microphone receives each blast of sound and then correlates this to the cursor onscreen. The ring and sensors communicate 100 times a second, so the translation of hand movement to cursor is instantaneous.”
Via: Engadget
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June 8th, 2007
Amazing. I need to have one now!
Any idea how much does this cost to produce?
June 8th, 2007
oops, got it from the popsci website.
$700 to produce this!!
Though I am sure mass production will make it cheap
June 8th, 2007
Still gotta figure out a comfortable way to click this ring mouse,
but I’m sure that won’t be too hard.
I can’t wait for this idea to come out on the mass market.
June 8th, 2007
neat. but its still a mouslike concept.
June 8th, 2007
I remember seeing a commercial system about 20 years ago that used a single ultrasonic transmitter mounted on the top of a monitor,
and three receivers mounted to a head-band. This allowed the user to move the mouse point by simply moving his head.
June 8th, 2007
hmmm, the video just looks like the guy is using a regular mouse, with serial connection. but it somewhat makes sense at least, most mouse movements are short bursts of movement so using an accellerometer to measure movements and speed shouldnt be too hard.
the ring mouse seems like ive seen it before however, i swear i allready saw something like that somewhere else.
June 8th, 2007
I like it….anything they can do to keep carpal tunnel at bay for me.
June 9th, 2007
I wonder how long it will be before we have an os that can support a pointer that moves in 3 dimensions? It would be kind of interesting, maybe something like the old Microsoft BOB but with a little more depth.
June 9th, 2007
Can’t they use a laser pointer somehow instead? Based on the console game guns etc? (remeber where u used to do the shooting witha gun)
there could be different buttons on the laser pointer for a different colour (or frequency) laser for the click etc.. would be much simpler and accurate…
hey, how can I patent this idea and get some cash?
June 11th, 2007
[…] Un nuovo modo di controllare il computer grazie ad un piccolo anello che emette ultrasuoni. Sul monitor sono posizionati cinque microfoni che rilevano l’impulso e stabiliscono la posizione del dito sullo schermo. E’ ancora in fase sperimentale… per ulteriori informazioni sul progetto si veda Hacked Gadgets […]
June 12th, 2007
Actually what you call laser pointers were optical sensors, seeing the progressive scan of CRT screens. So… You can only pick a position with such a system.
About the ultrasonic ring thing, I wonder how they came to hundreds of dollars, where the electronics and control of the thing arent that complicated.
My guess is that it’s harder to have something really reliable, and more than that, well supported by the software you wanna use it with.
June 12th, 2007
the cost i think is the development cost… includes research etc. otherwise this could be a very low cost project