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Will the Computer Mouse Go Away?

technologyreview.com — "A researcher at Stanford has created an alternative to the mouse that allows a person using a computer to click links, highlight text, and scroll simply by looking at the screen and tapping a key on the keyboard. By using standard eye-tracking hardware a doctoral student has developed a novel user interface that is easy to operate."

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  • WhatiFind, on 10/12/2007, -13/+6Finally get rid of the mouse:) btw, invented by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse (thank you for causing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_strain_injury) other resources http://hci.stanford.edu/research/GUIDe/applications.html. Do I need to sit still behind the screen? Hopefully this technology will improve quickly. Thanks for sharing.
    • cankillar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16I tested something similar at the University of Washington a year ago. When I used it, you sat your chin on a stand and an infrared beam bounced off your eye and a device tracked the reflection. It worked well, the techies said they used it to track where people look on webpages at ads, etc. It was quite cool. You clicked by blinking.
    • KraigR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+44hah, i blink too much
    • superal1394, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28this is a problem for people like me who have ADD and constantly flick aroudn the whole screen, typing, and ill look off to my buddy list, read away messages, look off the screen for a few moments, ect.

      this wont go anywhere, the mouse is here to stay
    • NoStoppingUs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+36no hands = more por..umm...studying..

      rawr.
    • mfratt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9This is a feature that I wouldn't mind to be used in conjunction with a mouse, so I can go back when the situation requires it. I would hate to have the mouse constantly following my eyes though.
    • Vladamir, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11this is pretty cool, but wouldn't the infrared light that watches your eye movements give you cataracts from staring at it for so long?
    • M4tt3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Pictures.
      http://www.technologyreview.com/player/07/03/02Greene/1.aspx
    • d722002, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10@Vladimir

      Explain to me how you can see infrared, then i'll tell you if you'll get cataracts.
    • mikesbaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12and me with my fing lazy eye. When you speak to me I see you and the floor.
    • EmperorAwesome, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I remember this one episode of sliders where they had these things you wore on your head, and you blinked to click. I'd really hate to not be in control of my clicking.
    • stalefries, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Anyone else think this would be great for FPSs, especially as a sniper? No need to worry about the DPI on your mouse and such, just look and blink (or click, whatever)!
    • chicbicyclist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Some sort of touch screen thing or hand gesture thinggie would probably be more practical than using your eye. I would bet money on the touch screen though. People like tactile things.
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1what about lighting
      if the camera cant point out your eye then what use is it
    • TaeK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2imagine playing CS or any other FPS

      "i can kill you by looking at you"
    • dissident, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1no thanks... often when I'm navigating around I'm not even looking at what I'm clicking... I can see it with my peripheral vision as it's quite good. Plus I love using the mouse... I do almost all my web navigating with it. I'm not into keyboard shortcuts.
    • vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@"this wont go anywhere, the mouse is here to stay"

      I would disagree, but not by this technology.

      I think touch screens will replace the mouse when the technology gets cheap enough at least with laptops. Personally, I can't ever use laptop touch pads and have to use an external mouse. If the screen were completely touch screen then it would be a hit instantly.

      After all, it is a pain to pull out a full blown mouse on a train or airplane.
    • ellisgl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@cankillar: Why does CueCat come to mind?
  • Arcesius, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33I'm most concerned about what will happen to FPS games.
    • pwill, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10You'd probably have to use the keyboard for shooting, unless you blinked to shoot, in which case, "spray and pray" would get a whole new meaning.
    • KibibyteBrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The mouse will probably stick around for quite some time as a gaming device as well as for other special applications(CAD). But it has to go on the desktop as it is becoming clunky and most importantly costs millions of years in damages due to RSIs and goodness only knows how much a corresponding fall in productivity. Many companies might want to move away from the mouse to an even less ideal device to avoid RSI expenses.
    • varaon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Laser vision in the next Superman game? FPS players twitch their mice around so much that their eyes would fall out if they tried using the same techniques!
    • robohoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Eye hax ftw!
    • RpgActioN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"You'd probably have to use the keyboard for shooting, unless you blinked to shoot, in which case, "spray and pray" would get a whole new meaning."

      Sometimes I think they're already closing their eyes anyways.
    • justintsmith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6*blink*

      BOOM HEADSHOT!!!
  • gingernut, on 10/12/2007, -8/+6Personally, I prefer using a pointing stick: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick

    I find a pointing stick to be much more ergonomic than a mouse or touchpad.
    • kakwakas, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18The nipplemouse? Those things drive me crazy.
    • Akaji, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Nipplemouse... interesting name. I've always called them eraser mice (since they look like the nub erasers on pencils)
    • KibibyteBrain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5My laptop has a nipplemouse and a touchpad. I used to whole-heartedly hate the nipplemouse in general until I started using the terminal more and more in Linux as my center of business. Now i love it in Ubuntu because it lets me keep my hands on the keyboard at all times. But I still totally hate the thing when I boot into Vista as it redefines clunky for interacting with full GUIs.
    • jasonlion54, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9It's called a G-spot, guys. Sheesh. It's right below the G key.
    • inmatarian, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'm way more partial to Trackballs. I use a Logitech optical mouse and the thing is awesome.
    • Ayavaron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I always called it a nubbin. They're fun to use.
    • zephc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The least P.C. term I've heard for it is the *****/mouse *****/computer *****
    • gingernut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why am I getting dugg down ? Did I say something wrong ?
  • wonderchemist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25"simply by **looking** at the screen and and **tapping*** a key on the keyboard"

    So, I'm guessing this won't work for all the people who have to look at the keyboard to tap a key?
  • Sneakernets, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Mouse? go away? naaah.
  • devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+33Does anyone even WANT the mouse to go away? It's an excellent input device. Other interfaces will be great... for other things where mice are not practical.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Exactly....peopel are always talking about a device that is going to be replaced, but no one comes up with a reason why they sHOULD be replaced. No one is looking to replace their mouse. No matter how good the next concept is, no one will care. Using a mouse is not some huge hardship.
    • WasabiBomb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I work with a mouse all day long. I'd love to not have to worry about developing carpal tunnel/RSI like a lot of my coworkers, ya know?
    • frozen1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I do, the mouse is a pathetic pointing device for FPS games, looking at someone and having eye-stabilization aglorithms keeping the line of sight smooth and then firing a rail gun or other long distance weapon at them would be a godsend. Next drawing pictures with your eyes instead of a wacom pen or mouse would be damn cool. This guy knows what he's talking about BUT he's not designing it right, the "pointing device" should be some kind of clear device that can sit on a contact lens and be detected by glasses you plug in (or wirelessly have connected to) to a computer.

      I've thought about designing such a device myself, using the glasses as the detector instead of all the expensive ***** he's using.
  • Guagloves, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1until i can use my wii-mote properly as a mouse, i dont think the comp mouse will go away
  • Haphazardness, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2What about blind people?
    • alpinestarless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17If you're blind I wouldn't worry about the mouse problem at the moment :)
    • konig12, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I don't think blind people use a mouse in the first place. Doesn't that require visual feedback?
    • Haphazardness, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1We need to invent a way to 'download' the images into the eye sockets for visual reference of what is being displayed on the monitor....I'll patent it if someone will invent it for me. :)
  • DeFex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7It certainly would be interesting to try and fly a helicopter in bf2 with that.

    "WTF are you doing n00b!"
  • Mushaboom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Think about trying to change a picture's settings in Photoshop, you wouldn't be able to see the changes if you are looking at a bar on the right of the screen.
    • ThatsNotPudding, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Yeah, then I sneezed and bang! instant Picasso!"
  • Hiki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1what if we'vce got googly eyes?
  • chinaman1472, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So instead of clicking your mouse, you get to strike keys on the keyboard!
  • banu0806, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0wow, thanks for posting, cool article
  • archemedes, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0No, the mouse won't go away. I got a trackball, hated it, went back to the mouse. I got a laptop, despised the trackpad, bought a tiny wireless mouse. I even have a pen tablet, but a mouse is more natural on web pages. This thing will be even harder to use than any of the other alternatives to a mouse.
  • archemedes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4And another thing, you'll probably have to clamp a chin rest onto your computer table just to keep your head still.
  • Salgat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I don't want my curser to follow everywhere I look.
    • Insanitation, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6heh my pointer would always be one the pron adds.
    • JackAxe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well put.
    • Thrump, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In the article it states there is no cursor. People did better without one.

      Makes sense, the cursor following your vision would be pretty distracting and you'd be really conscious of where you're looking. Which would be very unnatural.
  • JPhilipson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Lets get voice recognition down and then worry about eye tracking...
  • edto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I believe their will always be a use for the mouse, but we will see touchscreen more commonly used as time progresses since its just more natural for us.
    • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Naw, think about it. Your sitting at your desk for 10 hours a day, do you really want to be lifting your arms fingering the screen that entire time? Right now, just raise your arm in front of you and touch the screen, and leave it there. Now thing about doing that repeated for 10 hours a day. How long before that becomes tiresome? Think thats ergonomic? Maybe if your desktop top becomes the display, then touch screens will make sense, but then you have to spend the day hunched over your desk.

      Touch screens been around for a while, there is a reason why they are not on every desktop monitor today. Its not about getting better, its about being practical, which they are not.
  • Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm so glad Marty Feldman didn't live to see this day.
  • Ansible, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That would be annoying if someone was looking over your shoulder - your cursor would wander off to wherever they were looking... like dueling TV remotes, only not on purpose.
  • Merrick178, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Never will happen... Has some application I'm sure but a computer mouse is one invention that was done right the first time. Of course there was the addiction of the scroll wheel and optical mouse, but that's still far from a complete redesign. Most people who use a computer for awhile are almost don't even realize they're using a mouse sometimes, It's just like an addition to your body or something...
  • weister42, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Porn would be fun.
  • JigoroKano, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Having a trackball is like having a mouse pad of infinite area with no loss of precision. I don't see people clamoring to switch from mice to trackballs.
    • Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2No loss of precision? Are you kidding? I have a thumb. What do you have? A motorized rubber tread that can keep the ball moving at a constant rate?
    • JigoroKano, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1My trackball uses the first two fingers, and yes, it is just as precise as a mouse... in fact it is more precise. I accidentally move a mouse when clicking or bumping the desk.
    • 1randomnumber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I love my trackball, requres no room on my desk, plus, in fps or any other application for that matter, if you want to spin around or move to the other side of the screen quickly, just spin the ball and let your fingers off for a bit, and away you go.
    • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you set up your mouse properly, you should be able to get from one side of the screen to another in under 1 inch of desk space. Most people never bother with acceleration or tracking speed and they should. Chances are, you never setup your mouse properly, or had a decent mouse.
  • kingygk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Great now we can look forward to carpal tunnel of the eye!
  • xSEED, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1imagine the fps games!
  • Lane, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i honestly dont believe my head and therefore eyes would be still enough for any kind of precision work, be it photoshoping that one nasty little white pixel out of the 1,000,000 that happens to be taking up my screen at one time.
  • biased, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is just incredibly stupid.

    There are a number of reasons why, but the main one being that he didn't invent anything. This is how machine guns on most any apache helicopter work. It's as if I were to take some sheet metal and fashion it into a cylinder and then claim that I invented some new food storage container called a can.
  • idevlabsdotcom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I would pay $25,000 to rid myself of the inconvenience of moving my hand a few centimeters.
    • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's one expensive hook....human interface device.
  • tlog333, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I am always glad to see research being done in this area. At the moment I think the main problem is the prohibitive price point of $25,000. It would seem that the software cannot be evaluated for its true potential for the market unless it can be adapted to work with more commodity items such as the web cams that are embedded in laptops. I also agree with other diggers that for the general marketplace voice recognition is probably a more realistic replacement for the mouse. I will definitely keep my eye on this research and see what results continue, its definitely a good start!
  • Trax78, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'd prefer if Wiimote replaces the mouse..
  • cracell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1although I'd go pick up something that would make this work on my computer for 50 bucks in a heartbeart....

    How is that going to replace my mouse? I don't think I could draw with my eyes could I...I imagine scriggly lines.

    But like webbrowsers with yours eyes would be very cool. Especially when doing tasks that require your keyboard type stuff.

    oh just occupied with my hands....or like in a game my eyes control where my character looks and my mouse can click on stuff or something....I don't know.
  • JudgeDredd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't see that as being especially suited for doing things like photo editing.
  • acidkore, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The important part of this setup is the head tracker. I did some research with just an eye tracker and found that if you just have a mechanism to scan the eyes, the whole system fails. From my report:

    " Listing's Law defines the amount of ocular torsion as a unique function of the direction of the gaze, and thusly the head will involuntarily move to compensate and reduce torsion on the eye by minimizing the intensity of the gaze angle. The head will generally move when changes in gaze angle are greater than six to eight degrees (Fischer, 1925, cited in Von Noorden, 1985). On a seventeen inch monitor, if a participant is sitting closer than sixty inches, the amount of eye movement from corner to corner will result in an angle of greater than eight degrees. Thus, within all normal standards of viewing, the participant will naturally move their head to reduce the amount of travel their eyes have to exude. This movement results in a complete loss of accuracy in the validity of the eye mapping matrix established by the calibration function of the software"

    Basically, you move your head more than you'd think when sitting at a monitor. Forcing your eyes to move more than a few degrees for any length of time is awful, and the head moves naturally to combat this.
  • ShiftingSilence, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It'll make gameing pretty interesting, although I've always wanted to use a touchscreen for any game that uses a sniper rifle i just think it would be awesome for maybe 5 minutes to get headshots that fast
  • Daveoh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A real-life aimbot, just what everyone wanted!
  • Gimli, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I doubt the mouse will be going away, but I think something like this is good for people with disabilities.
  • bnolsen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hmm..this will never fly....
    about 15% or so of the population doesn't have "convergent" vision...meaning both their eyes aren't looking at the same spot. Even worse people like me are constantly switching their "dominant eye". If anything this technology would leave a computer frustratingly useless. This is the same group of people who are not able to see in true 3D.

    Interestingly enough quite a number of these people don't even know the have this problem.
  • nihilism65, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I like the idea but this would be far to hard to play online games with. I don't see the mouse being replaced.
  • NiGHTSChao, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hell no...because I move the mouse sometimes without looking to where its going, but I know where its going
    (2nd nature to me)

    *cries* I love my MX revolution... ;_;
  • xZeddx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1When will the optical eye be available?
  • MrRuckus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The next main stream mouse will be something similar to the Wiimote. I'm already considering using it as my main mouse.
  • killdashnine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I doubt it'll go away ... it'll probably just change.

    Hardcore gamers who are heavy into FPS games need twitch motion ... if you could hook electrodes up to their brains, then maybe that'd decrease the lag from their hand to their mouse. The problem in this case is not that an eye-tracking system wouldn't work ... the gamers just need more input sources.

    Wiimote-like devices would be nice though. We'd all just want much bigger monitors.
  • burnblue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Excuse me.. what about dragging? I don't see this working very well for me in Photoshop.
  • ThatsNotPudding, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0nods head yes.
  • lateralus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1God(tm) I hope so. My poor, ailing wrist.
  • FukUrCouch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Next they're going to make every pr0n pic a image map. Imagine the amount of pop-ups every time you stare at *****...
  •  

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