Most of you probably know who Pranav Mistry is; the guy who introduced SixthSense technology to the world. This ‘wearable gesture interface’ is a groundbreaking innovation, and critically acclaimed for its original concept.
This time, Pranav has come out with another magic, a virtual computer mouse! It works and helps the user the same way, the only difference being the mouse has no body. The user has to move the hand and tap the buttons as if they exist in real, and the system produces the usual work-flow of a computer mouse. And let us assure, there is no touch screen involved in the entire ‘Project Mouseless’. Yes, that is what the MIT student researcher has named it.
The system primarily consists of a infrared laser and a infrared camera, properly fit and calibrated for the system to work. The IR laser creates an ‘invisible’ infrared surface where the user intends to have the mouse. When the user puts his hand on the surface, and fakes holding a mouse with the palm, the IR camera tracks the motion and detects the movements, clicks, right-clicks etc.
The prototype of this virtual mouse mouseless system can be built at as low as $20 – pretty cheap for a futuristic solution, where some of the computer mice with full physiques costs more than that. How this will change the world of drawing and gaming, we are eager to see, and even if we completely neglect the market demands and needs, the mouseless system is pretty fun and so is the demo video.