The ''Mouseless'' is a proposed input device for personal computers. A prototype ''Mouseless'', designed by

Pranav Mistry Pranav Mistry (born 14 May 1981) is a computer scientist and inventor. He was the President and CEO of STAR Labs (Samsung Technology & Advanced Research Labs). He is best known for his work on SixthSense, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Project Beyon ...

of the MIT Media Lab. Mouseless replaces conventional hardware

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

with a set of infrared laser strobe, an

infrared camera Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

and image recognition software. The laser beam is optically split into a wide beam illuminating an imaginary plane above the working desk. The camera captures the pattern of invisible infrared light as it illuminates user's hand. The user rests the palm on the desk and commands the system in the same way as he or she would do with a conventional mouse. As of July 2010, the project has been presented to the media but has not been commercialized. According to Mistry' statement, the fully functional prototype of the ''Mouseless'' costs around $20.

References

* T. Ramachandran (2010, July 25).
Now the ‘mouseless' mouse
'.

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

External links

Mouseless homepage
Pointing devices 2010 in science Surface computing MIT Media Lab {{Compu-hardware-stub