Fun Stuff Videos

Move Over Mouse, Here Comes The Mouseless

Mouseless, the invisible mouse

Mouseless, the invisible mouse

It sounds like something that Apple would have introduced with its next “magic” device, but a group of scientists working with the Fluid Interfaces Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab in Cambridge Massachusetts decided they wanted all the benefits of the mouse — without physically having one. So, they invented the “Mouseless.”


The Mouseless (or “invisible mouse”) is really an infrared (IR) laser beam and associated camera incorporated into a computer so that a plane of IR laser is created just above the surface on which the computer is resting.

Mouseless working prototype system

Mouseless working prototype system

The user acts as though a physical mouse were present. The points where the laser beam intersects with the hand are captured by the built-in camera and changes in position of the hand and fingers are captured and translated into the appropriate mouse movements and clicks on the screen. [Editor’s note: there are two (2) buttons on the Mouseless, so can’t be an Apple mouse ;).] [ via PhysOrg ]