Mouse glove is designed for new comfort zones

Mouse glove is designed for new comfort zones

(PhysOrg.com) -- Yet another alternative to the conventional computer mouse is being marketed, this time a pull-on glove that behaves as a mouse. The Ion Wireless Air Mouse Glove is from a Cocoa, Florida-based company, Bellco Ventures, which describes itself as specializing in new product development and marketing. The mouse glove can serve up functions carried out in the conventional mouse—right click, left click, scrolling, and more.

That “more,” as promoted by Bellco, includes wireless freedom and comfort in no longer having to hold on to a physical mouse for long periods of time and being “stuck” at a workstation.

The glove has buttons worn on the finger that allow the user to perform left and right clicks—positioned on the index finger and pressed using your thumb--, an off and on switch, and LED. The glove set includes a USB module that you plug into your computer’s USB port. The glove works with Androids, Linux, Mac and Windows systems.

To scroll, the glove wearer uses wrist movements to go up and down the page. The mouse is wireless and rechargeable with the USB port; you can control your computer up to 35 feet away, which is another key selling point besides comfort, from Bellco.

“No desk needed,” says the company's ad;”sit back and relax from your big chair and control your big screen computer or Internet TV.”

Excessive use of hand movements while operating a computer and mouse has led some computer users to complain of sore hands and wrist problems, including carpal tunnel syndrome. In response, there have been attempts by gadgeteers as well as entrepreneurs to explore new directions in mouse design.

Internet technology site reactions to Bellco’s announcement have been mixed, ranging from “odd but interesting,” to a “niche mouse” to strangest ever seen, to doubts that the glove, even though intended to relieve the discomfort of prolonged use of a conventional mouse, can be comfortable if worn for long work stretches. Packaged in blister packs, the new mouse-glove is selling for $79.99.

Mouse glove is designed for new comfort zones

While the mouse glove is a new entrant for the Bellco product family, the mouse glove concept is hardly new. Innovative students as well as businesses have been playing with the concept for years. MIT students created interest in 2010 because they developed their version of a mouse glove inspired by a Tom Cruise movie. They were gratified to see they could construct something similar to what Cruise’s character had for less than one hundred dollars.

Last May, an episode on Revision3 Internet Television announced “Today we are building a mouse glove,” and the announcer showed how.

In 2002, a 16 year-old made news when he announced he designed a mouse glove for people suffering from repetitive stress injury. His prototype was also a mouse in a glove. At Cornell, in past years, a project called the Airmouse Initiative designed a motion-sensing glove with buttons to plug into a computer and function as a mouse. At North Carolina State University's College of Engineering, students said they had come up with a glove where sensors were attached to the ends of each digit; touching the thumb to other digits acted as a click and activated hotkeys.

In 2012, Bellco clearly sees a broadened market for its in a glove, from those suffering from hand ailments to those ready to move on to Internet television and home entertainment media including games.

The Bellco mouse glove will not only be feeding into the interests of computer users looking for a new kind of mouse but also into interests of users who are always ready to explore new concepts in remote control.

© 2011 PhysOrg.com

Citation: Mouse glove is designed for new comfort zones (2012, February 28) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2012-02-mouse-glove-comfort-zones.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

New sensor glove may help stroke patients recover mobility

2 shares

Feedback to editors