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 BT^TM 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.

For further reading and a video, check out:

• Inflatable mouse CHI 2008 paper
• Inflatable mouse youtube video

David Filipovic

The image above is the combination of a transparent FTIR-based multi-touch surface and a motion control board, such as the one from Nintendo BalanceBoard, to create a navigation metaphor. Dimitar Valkov, Dr. Frank Steinicke, Gerd Bruder and Prof. Dr. Klaus Hinrichs built this while working for the Visualization and Computer Graphics Research Group at the University of Munster. They created it as an easier way to navigate through a 3D virtual world. It allows the users to visualize movement through tight spaces such as caves where actual locomotion would be difficult. While this illustration includes wheels, the user of the device is not actually moving on wheels. The wheels are just a metaphor for the movement controlled by the user with hand and foot gestures.

I was drawn to this article because of the multi-touch surface similar to the one we have here at Project54, although it is not the main focus of the apparatus. The key to this navigational device is the use of a motion control board because it’s less strenuous to use feet to specify direction and speed than continuously using hands. They have presented this device to six subjects who were able to quickly adapt to using their feet and provided positive feedback on the device. The users appeared to have a natural ability to incorporate the use of feet and hand gestures for navigating in a virtual environment. With intuitive ease of use, reduced strenuous and continuous motion control requirements, the device seems to have great potential in becoming incorporated in more interaction metaphors.

Carol Perkins

These Lycra gloves are part of a new MIT prototype for a new gesture-based computing system. Graduate student Robert Wang and Associate Professor Jovan Popović developed this system that improves upon other techniques that use interfaces that adapt to human movement, such as the Nintendo Wii. Lycra gloves made of irregularly shaped patches are part of a system that rapidly produces 3-D images of the gloves on the screen using a new algorithm to produce images in a fraction of a second. Rather than incessantly calculating individual sets of data to determine the position of a hand, instead the algorithm searches through a database of various hand positions and selects the corresponding digital model.

I think it’s especially interesting that the motions used to control the screen on a Multi-Touch Table, in my experience, are very similar to the motions used with this gesture-based system in a virtual world, as shown in the video below. This prototype is faster and less expensive than the current methods to track the movements of the human body, and has the potential to increase the usage of such technology in areas like evaluations of athletic performances, animation, and of course video games.

Erika Swanson

This really looks like Wii on steroids! I have recently stumbled upon Microsoft’s Project Natal for Xbox. Their slogan is “You are the controller” which is really appropriate. The system uses full body motion, facial and speech recognition in order to improve the sensation while playing a video game. This means that no electro-mechanical controllers are required, but rather everything is done using different body parts. Plus, more than one person can participate in the game. If you are interested, take a look at this video. It really looks like it has a potential to revolutionize a new way of gaming.

Zeljko Medenica

Apple recently unveiled one of its newest creations: a mouse that responds to gestures and finger movements instead of the usual clicks and scroll wheel that come standard on a regular mouse. Dubbed “Magic Mouse“, this mouse uses a special optical laser that can read movement on any surface. This means the user does not have to have a mouse pad; the Magic Mouse can be used on just about any surface. One of the best features of this mouse is that it allows the user to have many different mouse configurations in one. For example, a left handed person can configure the mouse so that right click will be on the left side of the mouse, which fits a left handed person better. The mouse allows its user to click and double click anywhere on the touch surface, as well as utilize a scroll function that is harnessed by dragging a finger along the surface of the mouse. Another great feature of this mouse is that it allows a user to hold down the control key on the keyboard and drag a finger along the touchpad to zoom in. The Magic Mouse also offers a “momentum scrolling” option, where the user can increase the scrolling speed of the mouse by dragging their finger faster or slower along the touchpad.

 Devin Mullen

With the goal at Project54 being to produce solutions in order to create a safer environment in which the police officer can control all of the lights, radar, and various devices within his/her police car, it is interesting to see the need for similar technology within regular cars to solve the problem of distracted drivers. Recently, the New York Times featured the series “Driven to Distraction”. Along with examining the issue of distracted drivers, the series allows you to “Gauge Your Distraction” with an interactive game that illustrates the large distraction that texting while driving creates. Similar to the goals of Project54, the public should become more aware of the dangers of in-car distractions and what can be done to limit these hazards.

Erika Swanson

So this last week in technology was all about the moon landing that happened on July 20th, 40 years ago. And I found this youtube video that makes you think of the possibilities for our future:

Erick Janampa

For everyone with a Twitter account, there’s a new service called TwitTruth that can tell you details about your use of the social networking site. Unlike tools that analyze publicly available tweets, this application asks for access to your account and then analyzes if you’ve been tweeting links, re-tweeting, or just updating followers on your life. You can learn about other TwitTruth users, too. I thought it was a pretty cool concept to see if your usage of Twitter is in line with what statistics would deem “normal”. You can check out an article in The New York Times, or go directly to the website.

Erika Swanson

A few days ago I ran across an interesting device in a local electronic store. Finally it is time when such device arrived at our lives with satisfying performance for an affordable price. I found that buying it as a new PDA/phone accessory would be worth considering. It is an ultra-mobile (size: 2.0×0.9×4.5″, weight: 5.6 oz, battery life: 40-60 minutes) handheld projector which uses LED technology to project an image up to 50 inches in diagonal. It might potentially solve the burden of a small phone screen.

Although, the video shows some potential applications, it is still not clear what the killer app will be, how the mobile phone users will accept mobile projectors (regarding privacy), and how the projectors will enhance user experience and multi-user interaction.

Ivan Elhart

Have you ever wondered about where people most often look at when searching online maps? Microsoft Research has the answer. I recently found out that they released a free tool called “Hotmaps“, which collects statistical information about the frequency of people looking at different areas on the world map, and then displays collected data as a heat-map (i.e. a two dimensional histogram) using Microsoft Virtual Earth. Pretty neat idea!

Zeljko Medenica