A Midair Mouse

Well, I had to take my own medicine and Google for "midair mouse soap" to find what you were getting at .

While I was reading the article, I had an idea.

I took my USB optical mouse and flipped it over. I tried using my thumb to move the cursor. I found that if I put my thumb in contact over the optics, the cursor hardly moved. But if I lifted it a few millimeters off, I could get movement!

The article mentioned mirror movement, and that's what I got. Moving the cursor left and right was no problem but moving my thumb in the up direction made the cursor move down and vice versa.

I guess making a SOAP Midair Mouse is easier than I thought it would be.

Thanks for finding the more extensive article, Vulcan.

"The article mentioned mirror movement, and that's what I got. Moving the cursor left and right was no problem but moving my thumb in the up direction made the cursor move down and vice versa."

Turn your optical mouse over 180 deg. along the long axis. You did that. Then...

Turn you optical mouse around 180 deg. about the vertical axis. Add a piece of an index card or plain paper over the light source and sensor, and move that with you thumb. VOILA! Movements are as desired.

"I guess making a SOAP Midair Mouse is easier than I thought it would be."

Might take some refinement as to container and mouse hide/skin to make it smooth functioning and provide for R/L click functions.

Microsoft may be further along toward marketing it than article in PCMag. might have indicated.

Turn you optical mouse around 180 deg. about the vertical axis. Add a piece of an index card or plain paper over the light source and sensor, and move that with you thumb. VOILA! Movements are as desired.

I tried that. What happened was the up/down became correct but the left/right got reversed. I could probably get used to using it that way eventually but I got a taste of what may happen if things get reversed.

Yesterday, I took my son to the World of Fun, a video game parlor (you might have a different name for it). He saw the F16 simulator and asked me to play it since I happen to be good at it on our home PC.

The take-off was automatic so no problem. I spotted a target to my left and banked. It was a little higher than I was, so I pulled back on the stick...and crashed. Some nitwit had reversed the controls. Pulling back on the stick caused the plane to go down instead of up. I tried to reverse my thinking but it was difficult. Flying had become instinctive and I kept doing things the way I usually do.

Anyway, back to the SOAP mouse.

It should be a simple matter to modify an optical mouse to function with just your thumb movement (similar to a trackball). A pair of trigger switches for click-left and click-right will complete it nicely. I would imagine it to look like a contoured joystick that's cut in half and the thumb trigger replaced with the optics. The gun trigger remains but with a second trigger added for the middle finger.

"I tried that. What happened was the up/down became correct but the left/right got reversed. I could probably get used to using it that way eventually but I got a taste of what may happen if things get reversed."

Murphy has been at it again! Didn't notice the switch R&L.

Video game parlor AKA an Arcade or maybe Game Room.

Checked out www for "Air Mouse" so it is not really something new. The .pdf file referenced somewhere in the above posts make it sound new and revolutionary but that is merchandising for you. Lots of hype & hooray about the same ol sameo.

It sounds like a clean solution to me!

I actually don't like mice. I usually end up with the mouse leaving the table.

Now I may have to leave the room.