A pointing device, such as a mouse, touchpad or the pointing stick, has become an essential component of the modern computer system. As the number of portable computer users steadily increases so does the need for a compact and highly portable pointing device. The problem evident with existing pointing devices is that an increase in the portability of the device often results in the decrease of performance of the device and/or the comfort for the user.
The MoGo Mouse BTTM of Newton Peripherals and the Slim G4 Mouse of DaoKorea were developed to improve the portability of the mouse by reducing its thickness down to 5mm enabling it to be neatly stored inside a PC card slot. However reduced graspability was indicated as their weak point, which ensued due to their very slim form.
To address this usability-portability trade-off problem a 5 person team of the Department of Industrial Design of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has developed the Inflatable Mouse by essentially attaching an inflatable balloon on top of a slim mouse. The Inflatable Mouse is a volume-adjustable user interface. It connects to the computer through a USB port which can also be used to power its air pump. The air pump inflates the balloon up to the volume of a familiar mouse as needed, and deflates it entirely so it could be stored in the PC card slot of a portable computer when not in use. Apart from the standard functionalities of a mouse it also provides a new input modality of squeezing the mouse by sensing the air pressure inside the balloon, and also has multiple touch sensors on the top and both sides of the mouse. Changing pressure can be used for scrolling, selecting from a list etc.
Since the volume of the mouse can be promptly changed it can also be used as an output/display device, where a variety of dynamic expressions can be made, for instance simulating the beating motion of the heart.
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David Filipovic