

Show HN: Ergonomic mouse where you lift your fingers to click - dbenamy

I've developed a mouse where I click by lifting my fingers instead of pressing them down. I've found that this helps with my RSI and I'm running an Indiegogo campaign (like Kickstarter) to see if others are interested in me doing a production run.<p>I'd love to hear your thoughts on the idea!<p>http://igg.me/p/173482?a=881199
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ebrink
This is an interesting idea. Have you consulted the keyboard and mouse
enthusiast groups? There are two well known groups to propose the idea to, the
local experts would definitely have some insight:

<http://geekhack.org> and <http://deskthority.net>

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dbenamy
I didn't know about those groups. Thanks for the links! I'll definitely
contact them.

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arn
Good luck. If it doesn't work out, and you haven't already tried this mouse,
give it a shot:

[http://www.amazon.com/3M-Ergonomic-Optical-Compatible-
EM500G...](http://www.amazon.com/3M-Ergonomic-Optical-Compatible-
EM500GPL/dp/B00008KWWF)

I like it a lot. Use my thumb to click.

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philip1209
Interesting. I just bought this vertical mouse last month:
[http://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-Vertical-Mouse-Right-
Handed/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-Vertical-Mouse-Right-
Handed/dp/B00427TAIK/ref=pd_cp_pc_1)

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arn
same idea. I've tried that design. for some reason I didn't ever feel like I
had a great grip on it and pushing buttons right-to-left felt weird to me.

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philip1209
I honestly bought it a bit hastily. I rock climb, play cello, and program, so
when I started to get some wrist pain I immediately ordered ergonomically-
better computer parts. This mouse specifically has helped a lot.

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Foy
Cool idea, I think it'd be more appealing if you could somehow do it without
the "hood" over the mouse.

I don't know much about hardware but is it possible to have touch sensors
where the mouse buttons are so it can sense when you lift your fingers instead
of when you push a button above your hand?

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dbenamy
Re-posting my reply as an actual reply in case you don't see my top level
comment:

Thanks! Using touch sensors that detect when you lift your fingers is an
interesting idea. I bet it would be more difficult than buttons. Maybe version
2? :-)

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ktizo
Surely the simplest solution is just to use microswitches that are lightly
sprung, so that the weight of the finger is enough to hold them down. There
are probably some that would work as drop in replacements in already existing
mice.

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dbenamy
Do you have any ideas about how to handle taking your hand off the mouse?

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ktizo
How about yet another lightly sprung microswitch, this time attached to the
plastic casing?

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dbenamy
That's in interesting idea. I'd have to try it out to see how well it works.

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lazerwalker
I wonder if you could hack something like this together purely in software
using a Magic Mouse, since its surface is just a big piece of multitouch
glass. There's still the problem that the physical form factor isn't the most
ergonomic, but the barrier to entry for trying it out is pretty low.

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technel
Forgive my ignorance: I get that it uses the extensors instead of the flexors,
and it doesn't go through the carpal tunnel, but wouldn't you just eventually
get RSI in another part of your wrist then?

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dbenamy
Good question! It's possible that this will eventually happen, but I think
it's unlikely for 2 reasons:

Lots of stuff goes through a small area in the carpal tunnel so it's easy for
it to all rub too much and get irritated. My understanding is that the
extensors don't all go through a similar narrow area so are less likely to
have this problem.

The flexors are used a lot for typing. By moving some of the wear from mousing
to the extensors, the idea is to better spread out the wear and tear.

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ktizo
One note of caution. Until you have a lot more data from a lot more users,
this is not an ergonomic mouse, but is more of a test platform to test the
idea of whether this is an ergonomic mouse.

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dbenamy
Fair enough. I'm not sure if that'll fit so well in a HN title though :-)

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paulsb
It would be nice if the mouse was tilted slightly so that your wrist is not
parallel to the desk. For the scroll wheel, you could put that under the
thumb, i.e. on the side.

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dbenamy
@Foy, thanks! Using touch sensors that detect when you lift your fingers is an
interesting idea. I bet it would be more difficult than buttons. Maybe version
2? :-)

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dllu
Perhaps you can use light sensors instead? I haven't tested it, but it would
seem that something like the QRD 1114 sensor might work.

As for the scroll wheel, how about a thumb-controlled analog stick? (although
it would be hard to make that compatible with both right-handed and left-
handed people). The main thing preventing me from buying something like that
is the lack of a scroll wheel... many applications require one, including 3D
modelling software, first person shooter video games, etc.

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dbenamy
Thanks for the ideas!

With light sensors, do you mean that the fingers would normally cover them and
when you lift them off the sensors they would detect that? That's pretty
clever. Although you'd have to make sure that when your fingers are down,
you're lined up and covering the sensor. Maybe the mouse could have
indentations which guide your fingers to the right spots.

I'll bookmark that part for future reference.

I thought I was going to hate not having the scroll wheel but it turns out I
don't mind much. The only game I've played recently is diablo 3 which doesn't
need it, but 3d modeling was a PITA. Maybe I'll try the analog stick idea for
version 2.

Thanks again!

