Will An Invisible Mouse Be In Our Future?

If you thought going wireless with a mouse was cool, how about an invisible mouse? That’s right, folks. The people over at MIT have found a way to allow users to click and scroll without actually using a physical mouse. The system is comprised of an IR camera and IR laser to simulate mouse moves and clicks. Here is a picture of what the system looks like:

Wired also states:

Though new user interfaces such as touchscreens and voice recognition systems have become popular, the two-button mouse still reigns among computer users. Many technology experts think the precision pointing that a cursor offers is extremely difficult to replicate through technologies such as touch and speech.

Last week Intel CTO Justin Rattner said though Intel research labs is working on new touchscreen ideas, the mouse and keyboard combination is unlikely to be replaced in everyday computing for a long time.

In the case of the Mouseless project, the infrared laser and camera are embedded in the computer. When a user cups their hand as if a physical mouse was present under their palm, the laser beam lights up the hand that is in contact with the table. The infrared camera detects this and interprets the movements.

A working prototype of the Mouseless system costs approximately $20 to build, says Pranav Mistry, who is leading the project.

If the no mouse system costs only $20 to build, it would be interesting to see how much the mouseless system will cost consumers.

What do you think? Will this fly off the shelves or be a sleeper hardware product?

Comments welcome.

Source – Wired