Pranav Mistry Invented an Invisible Computer Mouse

by Saurabh Mishra on January 13th, 2011 4

In near future, very soon you’re going to use your personal computer without need of a physical mouse. Mouseless” is an invisible computer mouse that provides the acquaintance of interface of a physical mouse without actually needing a real hardware mouse. Previously, Pranav Mistry, who had created headlines for his animus invention Sixth Sense and for which he too received Popular Science 2009 Invention Award, has recently invented another similar device ~it’s an invisible Mouse!

Pranav Mistry said, “As we improve our computer vision algorithms, an extensive library of gestures could be implemented in addition to mouse movement and mouse clicks. Typical multi-touch gestures, such as zooming in and out, as well as novel gestures, such as balling one’s fist are all possible. In addition, the use of multiple laser beams would allow for recognition of a wider range of free hand motions, enabling novel gestures that the hardware mouse cannot support.” This mouse costs just 20$ to build its prototype.

Mouseless is an invisible computer mouse project done in in MIT Fluid Interfaces Group headed by Pranav Mistry, this invisible mouse provides the familiarity of interaction of a physical mouse without actually needing a real hardware mouse, hence removes the requirement of having a physical mouse altogether but still provides the intuitive interaction of a physical mouse that everyone is familiar with. (Sources)

Mouse gen started with Scroll, later with Optical & now Wireless. Mistry’s new innovation going to bring another revolution in future’s mobile technology. Unregimented facts, as Mouse is invisible. Since in last two decades, no more major changes occurred in the Mouse Technology. Lately, various multitouch and gestural interaction technologies have been explored as means to implement alternative methods to interact with a computer. In CES 2011, there is special forecast in the segment of Mobile Technological devices.

This Mouseless technology removes the obligation of having a physical mouse altogether but still provides the sensitive communication of a substantial mouse that we are familiar with. Mouseless consists of an Infrared (IR) laser beam (with line cap) and an Infrared camera. Equally IR laser and IR camera are entrenched in the computer. This laser beam module is customized with a line cap and positioned such that it creates a plane of IR laser just above the face the computer sits on. The user cups their hand, as if a physical mouse was near underneath, and the laser beam lights up the hand which is in contact with the surface. The IR camera detects those bright IR blobs using computer vision. The change in the position and arrangements of these blobs are interpreted as mouse cursor movement and mouse clicks. As the user moves their hand the cursor on screen moves accordingly. When the user taps their index finger, the size of the blob changes and the camera recognizes the intended mouse click. (News Cover)

Source: News Channels, Image; technologyreview.com