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Games Entertainment

Using Your Head As A Joystick 109

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-that's-using-your...-nevermind dept.
Ant sent in linkage to an article about Cybernet Systems and their new Use Your Head gaming peripheral that tracks head movements and uses them as input for games. Works using a USB Cam, and obviously its not gonna be running under Linux any time soon, but this is pretty sweet. When they have the version that can detect me cursing and use that to signal a retreat, I'll be happy ;)
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Using Your Head as a Joystick More

Using Your Head as a Joystick

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  • My company is now working on a game for the head-based controller. It's called "Corporate Ladder" and it works like this:

    You're a corporate peon, trying to work your way up to the top. Like dancing games like Um Jammer Lammy before it, Corporate Ladder rewards the player for nodding at appropriate moments. Nod when an up-and-coming exec is talking and you get points. Nod at the wrong guy and lose big. Get to the top and you can present ideas as well. You better hope they all nod for you! A network mode will be available Q1 2001.

    You can see screenshots and download an alpha demo HERE [ridiculopathy.com]. Good luck.

  • Need I say more? :-)
    Oh well, Daley Thompson's Decathlon [lemon64.com]
    Remember that game?
    Get ready for som serious headshaking/banging.
    --------

  • This thing is awesome! (Score:3)

    by TheDullBlade ( 28998 ) on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @05:50AM (#625099)
    It makes Street Fighter games realistic right down to the concussion!

    Go ahead, try doing 12 dragon punches in rapid succession.

    --------
  • The latest line of webcams from Philips [philips.com] contains the ToUCam Pro. This puppy can do 60 fps, but in order to do that and a game at the same time, you're going to need some sweet processing power...but it definitely should prevent lag.

    Sorry 'bout that link. Dynamic site, so this is the best I can do...
  • This is really cool, even if I think that the title of the article is slightly misleading.

    Think about it for a second. If you had a VR helmet or some equivalent (visors, etc), and this, you would be able to have full immersion in the graphical environment.

    Now, yes it would certainly make for a kick-ass game of quake. But what I want this for is to be able to extend my desktop from one screen to a full 360 wraparound. Maybe even an virtual globe centering on me.

    Wouldn't that be great for programming? My personal experience has been that the more information you can have readily available, the better you do (How many of us have bought 21" monitors, just so we can fit more windows on the screen). I can just picture having my main development environment in front of me, a second window for code I'm re-using to my left, my web browser at about 45 degrees up, etc. Only problem I see is getting the mouse to work well under those circumstances, since it would have much farther to travel, relatively speaking.

    Anyway, once someone writes the drivers to make my computer do what I just described, I'm getting one of these for home and probably another for work

  • Indeed very OT. One small question, when did serial port change into hot PnP?

    the 15th amendment: Thou shalt not feed the Trolls.(this line here in case I'm accidentally doing so:-()
  • Every response here has been under the assumption that the head will be the sole input device. But as both the linked article and the vendor web page states it is an additional input device used to augment your mouse/keyboard, so you'd use it like a third hand.

    less keystrokes are always good.
  • I wonder if this is anything like the Lightsaber input [slashdot.org] device I saw on here a few months back ... they both use USB cams for input ... personally I would love to try the lightsaber idea out.

    -Forager

  • Re:USE MY HEAD AS NEWS (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Each area has a set of traits, a mapping of names to values, in the way elements have attributes and formatting objects have properties. Individual traits are used either for rendering the area or for defining constraints on the result of formatting, or both. Traits used strictly for formatting purposes or for defining constraints may be called formatting traits, and traits used for rendering may be called rendering traits. Traits whose values are copied or derived from a property of the same or a corresponding name are listed in [C Property Summary] and [5 Property Refinement / Resolution]; other traits are listed in [4.11 List of Traits on Areas].
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    NOTE:
    NOTE: traits are also associated with FOs during the process of refinement. Some traits are assigned during formatting, while others are already present after refinement.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    The semantics of each type of formatting object that generates areas are given in terms of which areas it generates and their place in the area-tree hierarchy. This may be further modified by interactions between the various types of formatting objects. The properties of the formatting object determine what areas are generated and how the formatting object's content is distributed among them. (For example, a word that is not to be hyphenated may not have its glyphs distributed into areas on two separate line-areas.)
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    The traits of an area are either:
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    1. "directly-derived" -- The values of directly-derived traits are the computed value of a property of the same or a corresponding name on the generating formatting object, or
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    2. "indirectly-derived" -- The values of indirectly-derived traits are the result of a computation involving the computed values of one or more properties on the generating formatting object, other traits on this area or other interacting areas (ancestors, parent, siblings, and/or children) and/or one or more values constructed by the formatter. The calculation formula may depend on the type of the formatting object.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    This description assumes that refined values have been computed for all properties of formatting objects in the result tree, i.e., all relative and corresponding values have been computed and the inheritable values have been propagated as described in [5 Property Refinement / Resolution]. This allows the process of inheritance to be described once and avoids a need to repeat information on computing values in this description.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    4.2 Rectangular Areas
    4.2.1 Area Types
    There are two types of areas: block-areas and inline-areas. These differ according to how they are typically stacked by the formatter. An area can have block-area children or inline-area children as determined by the generating formatting object, but a given area's children must all be of one type. Although block-areas and inline-areas are typically stacked, some areas can be explicitly positioned.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    A line-area is a special kind of block-area whose children are all inline-areas. A glyph-area is a special kind of inline-area which has no child areas, and has a single glyph image as its content.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Typical examples of areas are: a paragraph rendered by using an fo:block formatting object, which generates block-areas, and a character rendered by using an fo:character formatting object, which generates an inline-area (in fact, a glyph-area).
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    4.2.2 Common Traits
    Associated with any area are two directions, which are derived from the generating formatting object's writing-mode and reference-orientation properties: the block-progression-direction is the direction for stacking block-area descendants of the area, and the inline-progression-direction is the direction for stacking inline-area descendants of the area. Another trait, the shift-direction, is present on inline-areas and refers to the direction in which baseline shifts are applied. Also the glyph-orientation defines the orientation of glyph-images in the rendered result.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    The Boolean trait is-reference-area determines whether or not an area establishes a coordinate system for specifying indents. An area for which this trait is true is called a reference-area. Only a reference-area may have a block-progression-direction which is different from that of its parent. A reference-area may be either a block-area or an inline-area.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    The Boolean trait is-viewport-area determines whether or not an area establishes an opening through which its descendant areas can be viewed, and can be used to present clipped or scrolled material; for example, in printing applications where bleed and trim is desired. An area for which this trait is true is called a viewport-area.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    A common construct is a viewport/reference pair. This is a block-area viewport-area V and a block-area reference-area R, where R is the sole child of V and where the start-edge and end-edge of the content-rectangle of R are parallel to the start-edge and end-edge of the content-rectangle of V.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Each element has the traits top-position, bottom-position, left-position, and right-position which represent the distance from the edges of its content-rectangle to the like-named edges of the nearest ancestor reference-area (or the page-viewport-area in the case of areas generated by descendants of formatting objects whose absolute-position is fixed); the left-offset and top-offset determine the amount by which a relatively-positioned area is shifted for rendering. These traits receive their values during the formatting process, or in the case of absolutely positioned areas, during refinement.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    The block-progression-dimension and inline-progression-dimension of an area represent the extent of the content-rectangle of that area in each of the two relative dimensions.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Other traits include:
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the is-first and is-last traits, which are Boolean traits indicating the order in which areas are generated and returned by a given formatting object. is-first is true for the first area (or only area) generated and returned by a formatting object, and is-last is true for the last area (or only area).
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the amount of space outside the border-rectangle: space-before, space-after, space-start, and space-end (though some of these may be required to be zero on certain classes of area);
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the thickness of each of the four sides of the padding: padding-before, padding-after, padding-start, and padding-end;
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the style, thickness, and color of each of the four sides of the border: border-before, etc.; and
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the background rendering of the area: background-color, background-image, and other background traits.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    NOTE:
    "Before", "after", "start", and "end" refer to relative directions and are defined below.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    a set of font traits (see [7.7 Common Font Properties]) which are used to request a font that is deemed to be used within that area. The nominal-font for an area is determined by the font traits and the character descendants of the area. (see [5.5.7 Font Properties]
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Unless otherwise specified, the traits of a formatting object are present on each of its generated areas, and with the same value. (However, see sections [4.7.2 Line-building] and [4.9.4 Border, Padding, and Background].)
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    4.2.3 Geometric Definitions
    As described above, the content-rectangle is the rectangle bounding the inside of the padding and is used to describe the constraints on the positions of descendant areas. It is possible that marks from descendant glyphs or other areas may appear outside the content-rectangle.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Related to this is the allocation-rectangle of an area, which is used to describe the constraints on the position of the area within its parent area. For an inline-area this is either the normal-allocation-rectangle or the expanded-allocation-rectangle. The normal-allocation-rectangle extends to the content-rectangle in the block-progression-direction and to the border-rectangle in the inline-progression-direction. The expanded-allocation-rectangle extends outside the border-rectangle by an amount equal to the space-after in the block-progression-direction, an amount equal to the space-before in the opposite direction, an amount equal to the space-end in the inline-progression-direction, and an amount equal to the space-start in the opposite direction. Unless otherwise specified, the allocation-rectangle for an area is the normal-allocation-rectangle.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------

    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Allocation- and content-rectangles of an inline-area
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    For a block-area, the allocation-rectangle extends to the border-rectangle in the block-progression-direction and outside the content-rectangle in the inline-progression-direction by an amount equal to the end-indent, and in the opposite direction by an amount equal to the start-indent.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    NOTE:
    The inclusion of space outside the border-rectangle of a block-area in the inline-progression-direction does not affect placement constraints, and is intended to promote compatibility with the CSS box model.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------

    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Allocation- and content-rectangles of a block-area
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    The edges of a rectangle are designated as follows:
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the before-edge is the edge occurring first in the block-progression-direction and perpendicular to it;
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the after-edge is the edge opposite the before-edge;
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the start-edge is the edge occurring first in the inline-progression-direction and perpendicular to it,
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    the end-edge is the edge opposite the start-edge.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    The following diagram shows the correspondence between the various edge names for a mixed writing-mode example:
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------

    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    For purposes of this definition, the content-rectangle of an area uses the inline-progression-direction and block-progression-direction of that area; but the border-rectangle, padding-rectangle, and allocation-rectangle use the directions of its parent area. Thus the edges designated for the content-rectangle may not correspond with the same-named edges on the padding-, border-, and allocation-rectangles. This is important in the case of nested block-areas with different writing-modes.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Each inline-area has a alignment-point determined by the formatter, on the start-edge of its allocation-rectangle; for a glyph-area, this is a point on the start-edge of the glyph on its alignment baseline (see below). This is script-dependent and does not necessarily correspond to the (0,0) coordinate point used for the data describing the glyph shape.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    4.2.4 Tree Ordering
    In the area tree, the set of areas with a given parent is ordered. The terms initial, final, preceding, and following refer to this ordering.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    In any ordered tree, this sibling order extends to an ordering of the entire tree in at least two ways.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    In the pre-order traversal order of a tree, the children of each node (their order unchanged relative to one another) follow the node, but precede any following siblings of the node or of its ancestors.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    In the post-order traversal order of a tree, the children of each node precede the node, but follow any preceding siblings of the node or of its ancestors.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    "Preceding" and "following", when applied to non-siblings, will depend on the extension order used, which must be specified. However, in either of these given orders, the leaves of the tree (nodes without children) are unambiguously ordered.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    4.2.5 Stacking Constraints
    This section defines the notion of block-stacking constraints and inline-stacking constraints involving areas. These are defined as ordered relations, i.e., if A and B have a stacking constraint it does not necessarily mean that B and A have a stacking constraint. These definitions are recursive in nature and some cases may depend upon simpler cases of the same definition. This is not circularity but rather a consequence of recursion. The intention of the definitions is to identify areas at any level of the tree which have only space between them.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    The area-class trait is an enumerated value which is xsl-normal for an area which is stacked with other areas in sequence. A normal area is an area for which this trait is xsl-normal. A page-level-out-of-line area is an area with area-class xsl-footnote, xsl-before-float, or xsl-fixed; placement of these areas is controlled by the fo:page-sequence ancestor of its generating formatting object. A reference-level-out-of-line area is an area with area-class xsl-side-float or xsl-absolute; placement of these areas is controlled by the formatting object generating the relevant reference-area. Areas with area-class equal to one of xsl-normal, xsl-footnote, or xsl-before-float are defined to be stackable, indicating that they are supposed to be properly stacked.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    If P is a block-area, then there is a fence before P if P is a reference-area or if the border-before-width or padding-before-width of P are non-zero. Similarly, there is a fence after P if P is a reference-area or if the border-after-width or padding-after-width of P are non-zero.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    If A and B are stackable areas, and S is a sequence of space-specifiers, it is defined that A and B have block-stacking constraint S if any of the following conditions holds:
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    B is a block-area which is the first normal child of A, and S is the sequence consisting of the space-before of B.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    A is a block-area which is the last normal child of B, and S is the sequence consisting of the space-after of A.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    A and B are both block-areas, and either
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    a. B is the next stackable sibling area of A, and S is the sequence consisting of the space-after of A and the space-before of B;
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    b. B is the first normal child of a block-area P, there is no fence before P, A and P have a block-stacking constraint S', and S consists of S' followed by the space-before of B; or
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    c. A is the last normal child of a block-area P, there is no fence after P, P and B have a block-stacking constraint S'', and S consists of the space-after of A followed by S''.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    NOTE:
    The use of "stackable" in two places in the above definition allows block-stacking constraints to apply between areas of area-class xsl-before-float or xsl-footnote.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------

    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Adjacent Edges with Block-stacking
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    When A and B have a block-stacking constraint, the adjacent edges of A and B are an ordered pair recursively defined as:
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    In case 1, the before-edge of the content-rectangle of A and the before-edge of the allocation-rectangle of B.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    In case 2, the after-edge of the content-rectangle of A and the after-edge of the allocation-rectangle of B.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    In case 3a, the after-edge of the allocation-rectangle of A and the before-edge of the allocation-rectangle of B.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    In case 3b, the first of the adjacent edges of A and P, and the before-edge of the allocation-rectangle of B.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    In case 3c, the after-edge of the allocation-rectangle of A and the second of the adjacent edges of P and B.
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------

    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Block-stacking constraint example
    ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
    Example. In this diagram each node represents a block-area. Assume that all padding and border widths are zero, and none of the areas are reference-areas. Then P and A have a block-stacking constraint, as do A and B, A and C, B and C, C and D, D and B, B and E, D and E, and E and crap
  • ...Sega will be producing a new version of 'Space Channel 5' for headbanging Heavy Metal fans.

    ---

  • Head games (Score:5)

    by MuValas ( 91840 ) on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @07:12AM (#625107)
    Coming from inside Cybernet, I have a bit more info on the product for those that are interested.

    First, the product uses very little CPU (less than 5%) and given that it runs off of normal webcams (which typically have a framerate of less than 30fps) has little lag.

    Second, the product is purely "optical" - you don't have to attach dots or sensors or anything to your head.

    Third, the device isn't meant to replace the keyboard/mouse/joystick (I pounded mightily on the UseYourHead group in the beginning that gamers - specially FPS gamers - will never want to go away from their controller of choice) - but it basically gives you an unobtrusive tertiary device.

    Fourth, it moves by tracking translational movement (left, right, up, down) not rotational movement of your head (twisting). It was obvious from the start that a device requiring you to take your eyes off the screen was a bad idea.

    Finally, a bit more information about the tech. UseYourHead runs off of Cybernet's Gesture Technology which was developed on various Military R&D contracts and is capable of identifying complex gestures, where a "gesture" can be a series of positions by anything from your hand to your head or even your feet or something held in your hand. Think of slapping a camera on your TV and never having to search for your remote again because you can wave the channels up or down, or use simple signals to specify a channel.

    UseYourHead is the first foray into commercial-land for this technology. We wanted something simple, something basic, something useful. Originally intended almost entirely for the first person shooter market, we recognized the basic motions most people make when playing those game is to weave, duck, and try to peer around corners, over ledges, ie. head tracking. Head tracking is *really* simple for the gesture tech, the hard part was getting it to work as fast as possible with the relatively slow web cams.

    As a first pass, UseYourHead takes head movements and lets you map them to keystrokes. Its the simplest setup that allows UseYourHead to work well with almost all existing games. However, game developers can directly integrate support for UseYourHead (through a DirectInput wrapper) and have a more continous motion. Imagine your screen as a window into the virtual world, and as you try to peer around a corner, the game smoothly shifts to give you the correct perspective. Even more interesting, game developers can use our tech to access more complicated gestures. For instance, the game Black & White has a system for casting spells in it that requires you to make gestures with your mouse, imagine being able to use your hand directly to make those gestures (Somatic components from D&D :)

    Oh, and while UseYourHead is meant for Windows, all the original tech runs on various versions of Unix (Cybernet puts out a Linux product called Netmax [netmax.com] as well)

    Feel free to email me if you have any questions, or visit Cybernet's web site [cybernet.com] for more company info)

    Ron Hay
    rhay@cybernet.com
    Game Designer/Developer
    Cybernet Systems Corp
  • But you should see my impossible manoeuvers when my S.O. slaps my face! On the down side, I replaced a sore thumb with a sore head...

  • Ha, I'm currently typing with pencils to give hands a rest. My point is, anything that keeps you hands off keyboard and mouse is a gift from god (while still using a computer, and no one handed jokes please). By the way, I just got the book Its not carpel tunnel Syndrome! [barnesandnoble.com] and its a really good read. Do not go to a doctor about rsi before reading this book. For those of you with undamaged typing/mousing parts who dont take rsi seriously, START NOW
    (sorry, you have to repair the link by hand, take space out)
  • jeez, thats neat and all, but would you want a bunch of gamers sitting around with electronics strapped to their . . . oh, wait, you mean the head on your shoulders? oh, uh, nevermind then....
  • I seem to recall seeing on TV somewhere that this is used by some quadriplegic folks with some head mobility who don't like the sucking/blowing straw interface....

    ---

  • "One small question, when did serial port change into hot PnP?"

    Not trolling .. otherwise I would have posted anon, and not included "OT" in the title .. anyway, I still don't see why you should have to restart your entire OS to plug in a serial mouse. Even in the days of DOS/TSR's you could hot-plug a serial mouse and just load the driver .. I'm sure Win2K could do the same, especially since they seem to go out of their way to detect when you unplug the thing, they might as well check if you plug one in. (It is an MS plug-n-play mouse BTW .. )

    I suppose the issue would be performance problems related to polling the ports, I don't know, doesn't seem to bother them to poll the network status for cable unplugged ..

  • You're absolutely right. Check it out here. [uiuc.edu]

    Actually, I've been looking into this type of thing as a possibility for a Master's Project at my school, and I'm wondering if some of you guys might have some good ideas of how to improve it. What I've been looking into is maybe doing a more hardware-oriented version of it--y'know, shove some gyroscopic sensors and such into it so you don't need the webcam. After all, the general concensus seems to be that a webcam would be too slow to keep up with a *real* Jedi. :)

    Anybody have any cool ideas?
  • Before resorting to surgery, I would try a change in diet. I used to get very sore joints from typing, using a mouse, and using a hockey stick, among other things, and I found that a dramatic increase in my calcium intake gradually solved my problem over several weeks. I generally drink half a gallon of whole milk per day.
  • Sounds like something my grandmother would tell me.
    Forget this lawsuit bullshit and take it easy. Kids break their legs, necks, arms, etc playing soccer in the streets.. are we going to sue Mr.Ball ?
    What is this, slashlawyer.com ?

    bau
  • I can say that !
    Everybody is saying "Priot Art" now. Sounds like a gallery msg board here.
    There is a billion head tracking systems out there. We know that, cool !
    P.S. No need to be anonymous when you are being honest 8)
  • Careful what you wishfor. You should checkout http://Cybernet.com, our company invented Force Feedback.

  • At an annual fair they have here, I once tried (5 bucks for like 5-10 minutes) something sorta like this.. You put on a headset, and it moved the "perspective" of your game of doom/really close doom clone as you moved your head, you walked on the spot to move forward, and you pressed the triggers in your hands to shoot.. It was quite a system, and it looks like it is starting to approach home usability finally!

  • YES! This would work perfectly with Decent! Tilt your head to rotate the ship clockwise/counterclockwise, tip your head to raise /lower the nose!!! I always run out of fingers for doing some of these manuvers....
  • It was never intented to be the primary controller.
  • You do not 'twist' your head, you tilt it to the left or right side. That's why it's great for dodging, just set it to the sideslip keys....
  • From www.m-w.com:

    Main Entry: joystick
    Pronunciation: -"stik
    Function: noun
    Etymology: perhaps from English slang joystick penis

    Hell, if the dictionary thinks that's where it came from ,it's alright by me.

  • The currently released version of the software should work with any camera that supports "video for Windows". The UseYourHead website will soon host a list of cameras that have been tested. Joe Laidlaw Cybernet Systems
  • I'd like to see a contest (Quake, UT, or whatever game is easily played with this new hardware) and let people using this setup battle people who use regular controllers like mice, joysticks and the likes. I'm convinced that the latter will win. Your head wasn't made for playing action games, you got other 'tools' doing that for you.

    Besides that; this will be fun too see when you're in the heat of the game and the phone starts ringing of something else is drawing your attention. Personally I don't think these products will do good at all. They sound like nice, short termed, toys which will also soon dissapear. Take for example MS's joystick (I forgot the name) which reacts to movement; is anyone actually using one of these I wonder.. In the local stores they seem to become obsolete. The same with the previous "head movement tool". You hardly see that around anymore as well.

  • Anyone remember "Decathlon" or "Track & Field" on the C64? Imagine playing these games using your head as a joystick... OUCH!

  • Prior art... (Score:4)

    by Howie ( 4244 ) <.howie. .at. .thingy.com.> on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @05:51AM (#625126) Homepage Journal
    I knew this rang a bell - here's [chem.rug.nl] a 1995 game for the SGI Indy that uses the indycam as a 3d input device. From what I remember it was kind-of-usable but not exactly pinpoint accuracy. Got it at home somewhere.
  • Intel has a skiing game where you use your body in front of the camera to ski the course in the game.
  • In the VR industry, stuff like this has been done for years ranging from cameras detecting light reflective points placed on the body,
    magnetic field systems, muscle current detection, eye movement tracking, suits and gloves and helmets with multi-position switches, spring or memory metal tension measurements, infrared distance measurements, etc. There is a plethora of systems of various price and quality, and the leaders in this industry are Polhemus and Fakespace, with a few new folks who are consolidating the remains of failed companies and producing new stuff.

    The VR industry was too early, like the AI industry, and failed to deliver on all its promise - and thus failed commercially. Also like AI, a resurgence seems to be building. However, I hope this time we can separate hype from reality (and dumb ideas from useful ones).

    As you may have noticed when you move around real 3D space, you don't just use one part of your body. So, controlling movement through a 3D simulation with just your head seems a bit ridiculous. Why is it more ridiculous than using your hands to control a joystick? When you use a joystick, you are using your hands for their purpose: to manipulate small physical objects. This is then converted into movement in the simulation algorithmically, and (primarily since we're used to driving motorized vehicles) we're pretty good at mentally interpreting our hand movements into planar movement (and even some 3D movement) in 3D space.

    Now, if you look at the VR and telerobotics community, what use is head tracking? It is usually used in conjunction with hand (or whole body) control of motion, in order to control field of view. That is: your body or hands control movement, and you use your head to look around. Sounds familiar. That's the point.

    So, if you combine decent head tracking (and the technology they use does not seem decent) with joysticks or gloves or suits, you're on your way to something (Fakespace has a nice system called the Boom which is fairly good for both moving and looking around). The problem is, can you get the response time necessary for your mind to associate the movement of your head with what your eyes are getting back from the screen.

    First off, the bezel on the CRT may interfere sufficiently with your field of vision that your mind loses track of the association between head tracking and "looking around" in the simulation (or game). Serious VR and telerobotic apps with lots of funding use periscopes (like on the Boom), goggles, or helmets to ensure that association by immersion into the environment.

    Experienced gamers may have overcome the motion sickness from non-immersive motion sufficiently to not have this problem, but the differing nature of the head-tracking vs. joystick (or keyboard) game movement may be such that you still have a period where you have to adjust by playing A LOT and getting used to the sensation - that is, training your mind to perceive this weird world you now inhabit.

    So, it may be fun to use such a hybrid system, if the technology is there. However, camera-based tracking technology has the worst tracking resolution and response time so far. Worse, this system is going to be highly succeptable to image noise - a problem Biovision and others got around by using reflectors you place on your body and associate with points of movement that the software maps each point on the body to. What their system seems to be doing is trying to handle this with motion vector extraction of the whole image received, and/or diffing the image and using quadrants or octants to translate changes into on-screen motions (unfortunately, I could not try this out to verify).

    Such a methodology is (a) slow (especially since the tracking computations are being done on the machine that is already bogged-down rendering the game - VR apps are often multi-CPU) and (b) not terribly accurate... So, this system, in my analysis, is just hype. It is no new direction in gaming, rather an old one poorly rehashed.

    I suggest that you stick with joysticks and keyboards until the good stuff becomes more affordable...

  • We've already seen a similar idea with a lightsaber here [slashdot.org] that struck me as much more intuitive. I'm not sure what you would want to control by whipping your head around. Maybe peeking around corners?
  • Well, if you think playing Quake III would give you whiplash - think of the retrogamers playing
    old sportsgames. I am sure I wouldn't want to
    play "Daley Thompsons Decathlon" with THAT kind
    of joystick. That game probably killed more
    joysticks than any other game.

    Imagine - if you wanted to play Decathlon with it, you'd probably need to whip your head left and right about 30-50 times within 10-15 seconds on the 110m hurdles event alone [shudder]...

  • Great. Now you get to give yourself whiplash trying to get your game to respond! Whee! Fun fun fun! Idhan
  • Thanks for the book reference! I think I'll be buying a copy today. (Although I prefer Amazon. :+)

  • ...and people thought Descent caused nausea and disorientation the first time around...

    I'm glad that there doesn't seem to be a force-feedback version. That would hurt. :)

  • This actually reminds me of something I read about a while back (it may have been on Slashdot). It was sort of like this, but it was made by a university student for a contest, and it used a lightsaber instead of your head. I'm pretty sure the guy made an accompanying game, too.

    I don't know about everyone else, but the idea of using a lightsaber seems a lot more tempting than trying to control a game by shaking my head. George Clooney should love it, though...

  • What happens when your manager comes over and wants to show you something but can't "tell" you how to get there?

    "You have to see this site. Let me just see your mous...Hmmmm." He then proceeds to grab your head and sprain you neck showing you some site you have already seen a million times.

    No thanks. I won't trade wrist RSI for neck RSI. ;)

  • Don't forget that all-important gaming accessory for the female players...the glass ceiling.

  • I can't tell you how many times I've seen people leaning to the left or right playing driving games, or tipping the controller down towards the floor when they want to duck (to get lower, presumably)... I thought it was sheer folly, but maybe that's the wave of the future!

  • There was an SGI game whose name I sadly cannot recall which used the indy's onboard camera and you would make hand motions in front of it to control your character. This is just an even less sophisticated version of the same thing, and it's not free? Pshaw. Someone obviously needs to find the game I'm talking about. I did some websearching around, but couldn't find it, perhaps I was using the wrong words.

    By the way, while I was searching for that, I came across this Input Devices Resources List [toronto.edu] which might be interesting to people reading this thread. Also see GestureVR [acm.org]. You might want to wade through This Page [ulaval.ca] on VR Software Toolkits, but it's painful; This person has no idea what HTML is for.

  • Call me ignorant but what was the pen trick?
  • I remember this one. Yup, used a laser/camera combo to track movement.
    Mmmmm..oh well.
    eastlan
  • I recall a while back (was it 93?) having access to an SGI Indigo, and my roommie brought home a game for it called "Serenity"... One of the things noted with that game was that no matter how hard one tried, you could not avoid using body english.
  • Dude, If this thing detected cursing i'd suddenly be the best Quake player at every LAN I went to ;)
  • This sounds really, really cool...


    Until I think about the kind of whiplash you'll give yourself the first time someone really surprises you in your favorite multiplayer!

    *BLAM* Wha? *CRAK* OW!

    -Omar

  • We thought of many amusing names around the office including, "UseBothHeads! The hands-free web-surfing interface"

    -RH
  • Except UseYourHead doesn't use a special camera, and doesn't require you to put a dot on your forehead (you still can if you want, though).

  • Quake III (Score:3)

    by Bob McCown ( 8411 ) on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @05:34AM (#625146)
    This thing could be dangerous! In some of the battles we've had at work would have given me whiplash for #(*$ sake!
  • Actually, UseYourHead doesn't have a problem with low-light (a completely dark room won't work) or even low-contrast situations. It works fine with different colored skin tones as well. It takes up less than 5% on a mid range (500 mhz athlon/p3) system, and actually is capable of more than simple, 2-D translation. I'm not sure of the exact specs, but if you are interested, email us and we can give you a better idea of how it works.

    Ron Hay
    rhay@cybernet.com
    Developer/Designer
    Cybernet Systems Corp

  • Now, I'm no medical doctor by any means, but isn't there a risk of serious injury with something like this? I mean, people are getting RSI now just from sitting away at their keyboards typing. How on Earth are they going to cope when playing games involved whipping their heads around at breakneck speeds?

    If this takes off I can almost guarantee that hospitals will see a huge influx of whiplash cases from teenagers having injured themselves attempting to "frag" other people in Quake 3 Arena. This will be swiftly followed by a tidal wave of lawsuits from angry parents, and Cybernet Systems will quickly fold and go under.

    Has there ever been a more inadvisable product?

  • Seriously, they are just asking for trouble.
  • why don't you use your head for thinking? That's what it was designed for...

  • Call me Mr Skeptical, but... (Score:3)

    by Mike Connell ( 81274 ) on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @05:38AM (#625151) Homepage
    (Ok, it's only $30, people will expect it to be not-very-good, and no, I haven't tried it).

    We have some expensive VR kit, including head trackers. Guess what, they have noticable lag - this is custom hardware, and not cheap. How fast is a software program that tries to analyse the position of your head from a webcam going to be? My guess - not very.

    I wonder how much CPU it needs to do it too (whilst you're playing Quake III)...

    Mike.
    ps) Would still be fun to get for Christmas though, I guess they are releasing at the right time.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • The new Quake Arena BANG! BANG! BANG! (Score:3)

    by Ektanoor ( 9949 ) on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @05:59AM (#625153) Journal
    Why are you knoking your head over the table?

    I'm out of ammunition and now I'm using my bare hands...
  • I don't think that this input system would work well with Q3a and nearly every other game as we have now, as the direction that your virtual counterpart's head is move is the same direction that your body is moving, an you are otherwise limited to the 8 directions that {forward|backward|strafe left|strafe right} can generate from that head position. Sure, you can move NNE while facing north with a combination of these moves, but it's not a direct line.

    (Interesting note, I believe that Marathon did it the reverse way, instead of strafe, you turned your head left or right while your body kept forward. You still were limited to 8 directions from this point, of course.)

    Anyone remember Robotron? In this game, your head facing was different than your body facing (you had two joysticks). I think that this head joystick would be applicable to games like this, only limiting your head movements to approx 135 deg in both left/right and up/down axis. Your mouse and keyboard now control your body's movements save for up/down looking, while your headpiece now controls the direction your head (and therefore your weapon) is facing. Yes, that would cause a bit of relearning, but it increases the freedom of movement of the character (you can now move, while facing north, NNE directly). As for whiplash, instead of turning your head around fast, you'd have to turn your body around fast, which is limited to the keyboard/mouse (since you can't get your head 180 degrees by itself!)

  • I've tried something like that before. It detected your head movement with a lazer. It's crap. Don't try playing Quake with it. You'll hate itm, guaranteed!

  • "Your mouse has moved. Windows NT must be restarted for this change to take effect."

    You joke, but I've noticed something horribly similar enough; if I unplug my serial mouse in Windows2000, it's smart enough to detect this, and the mouse is disabled and the mouse cursor disappears. (I was unplugging to switch my modem and mouse around, the modem was configured on the other port, so I figured it would be easier to switch them around physically.)

    But when plugging the mouse back in, Win2k didn't seem as smart anymore .. so restart :) And that's supposed to be a server operating system .. "attention all employees, the server will be brought down at 14:00 today, as I have to plug a mouse in" ..

  • Yeah, I'm a nerd. But that's the whole point.

    I would GLADLY stick a bleepin dot to my forehead and wiggle my head around to be done with my mouse. I would at least like to try it.

    I used to be a right hand mouser. RSI.
    I am currently a left hand mouser. RSI.

    If they don't come out with something for some other body part where I can move the pointer around without a mouse, I'll be doing surgery someday.

    Oh well....
  • I thought the pen trick at the arcade was the best cheat ever. Many a time I almost busted my finger by hitting the pencil right at the fulcrum.
  • Also, this product could break new ground for web navigation for the handicapped.

    Hmm, double-clicking with your nose...
  • I think the only use for this would be to detect whether or not you have fallen out of your chair as a result of "dodging" something in the game you are playing.

    Years ago, a friend and I were playing "Stunts" and had built tracks to challenge each other with. In an attempt to dodge an unexpected concrete barrier in the middle of the track, I literally launched myself out of my chair. This device could be used to automatically phone the emergency room in case no one is around.

    Has this happened to anyone else playing other games? (Quake, etc?)
  • mommy, mommy, I can't go to school today. I was playing Quake last night and I think I gave myself whiplash! I can't turn my head to the side and I have shooting pains going down my back!!!
  • Now looks really CAN kill! At least in Quake.

    Steven
  • Okay, let's think about this people. I'm sitting at my desk playing Q3. I've got my webcam running and capturing the movements of my head.

    How exactly would this work. If I turn my head to the left to signal the webcam that I would like my character to turn left, I can no longer see my monitor.

  • I remember a few years back there was a similar device except it was a bulky looking helmet that tracked head movement. When I first saw that, all I could think of was "yeah that'd be just great, you're in a firefight and you have to LOOK AWAY from your monitor in order to look the other way?".

    it just seemed silly, and this product also seems equally silly. And what about those people that can't help but move their heads a full 360 degrees while playing games and even rock their upper torso around (I can't help but laugh at these people).

    Oh I know, how about we glue kournikova's raquet to her head, that way she'll be able to play tennis with her head! IT would be COOL that way.

    okay I'm done :)
    Klowner

    I can't spell, so sue me... no not really
  • Getting distracted by the cat, and watching my avatar pirouette into a vat of lava...
  • Sounds like an impressive piece of technology, but to play games or generate headaches?
  • I can't wait to see if I can get it to work with a game like Leisure Suit Larry.... huh huh.. huh huh huh...

    Anything along these lines scares me, actually. I can just imagine when they get things that fit on your various body parts for you to use when playing games and of course for pr0n. A neat idea, but knowing Win98/ME you could end up with a nasty blue screen and the next thing you know you're cooking your Joy Department!

  • I think everyone is a little confused. Obviously this isn't meant to be a primary controller. It is intended to supplement your primary controller.

    Imagine playing quake, you want to switch weapons. Instead of hitting the key you just nod your head. The rest of the game is played exactly how it would normally be played.

  • Great, they've resurrected the Nod (Score:4)

    by alhaz ( 11039 ) on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @05:39AM (#625169) Homepage
    These guys aren't the first, or even the second company to propose this sort of pointing system.

    The Nod was a pointing device developed by Sage/Stride in the pre-ibmpc dawn of computing that worked by sticking a reflective dot to your forehead and standing a sensor on your monitor.

    It didn't sell well, because people felt silly sticking a reflective dot on their forehead and wiggling their head around to move the pointer.

  • The common cold defeats gamers (Score:3)

    by onion2k ( 203094 ) on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @05:40AM (#625170) Homepage
    *Sneeze* .. 'Bugger, I fell off that cliff again'
  • ... due to an abundence of whiplash and slipped disc claims against the company. Too bad, really.

    Ming for president! [ridiculopathy.com]

  • Seems to me that somebody tried this a couple years ago for PC games and the general consensus was that the thing sucked for two reasons. 1. It tracked twists of your head, which seems cool for flight sims and stuff until you realize your monitor isn't bolted to your face and it's very difficult to play a game without looking at it. 2. Your neck gets tired a lot faster than your wrist, and your eyes get tired even faster than that when you're forcing them to stay locked on a monitor while you twist and tilt your head.
  • How can this be redundant? It's #18! There was nothing here like this when it was posted...

    Think moderators!

    Mike.
  • "Using Your Head as a Joystick" ????

    Is Taco making fun of us (or himself) after it's previous post ???
    I'm seriously confused....

  • Try to imagine playing Track and Field (or any other Joystick Waggler) with this. You'll look like you're having a fit!
  • with lots of people walking behind my desk. How discriminate is the cam when picking up movements other than the user's head?
    Also, this product could break new ground for web navigation for the handicapped.
  • We'll soon be seeing real Quake injuries...

    JP

  • please elaborate.
    really. I don't think I read enough /. to understand this correctly - a karma whore is someone who posts on-topic comments, adding to a discussion and is moderated up as a result (if the moderation thing is working right) - is that right? so is that an insult? why?
  • You're talking about the Freestyle Pro, and I still use mine all the time. It takes a little getting used to, but i rocked with it on X wing Allience. You can set where the dead zone and limits are, which is great cause every game needs a different feel. I think it was a nicely made pad, i also use it as my gamepad for my emulators (you can turn the motion sensor off, the Dpad is normally a HAT switch). Just thought you wanna know.
  • So now I have a choice between this and a wireless joystick on a headband.
  • CT: "Works using a USB Cam, and obviously its not gonna be running under Linux any time soon, but this is pretty sweet."

    Why not? That's not the sort of do it yourself spirit that Linux is all about. I'm pretty sure that Linus wasn't sitting in Tannenbaum's Operating Systems class muttering to himself "obviously this isn't going to run on my computer any time soon." Instead, he made it run on his computer. Some poor newbie probably said to himself (stream of concsioussness style):

    Cool, I can use my head as a... oh, not for linux.

    geekbox% reboot

    Partition Magic
    1 Windows
    2 Linux

    Partition?     1

    Ok, well at least I can use it here. Who needs Linux anyway... Long live Bill.

    Tsk tsk Taco, should have said,
    "Let's get this thing on Linux!"

    Just thought you needed an attitude adjustment, not meant to be flame or troll, just perhaps droll.
  • Years ago a guy at our chemistry lab wrote a game where you could catch food on your head. It used an SGI Indycam. It was quite fun to play, but a bit inprecize, and background dependent. See http://rugmd4.chem.rug.nl/hoesel/lu mbu s.html [chem.rug.nl].
  • Now with most USB webcams it wouldn't be very good as a game controller, but when IEEE 1394(firewire)webcams become more prominent then this product could be used. Since firewire webcams wouldn't drop near as many frames as usb ones do. But the firewire webcams cost more so it could go either way.

    I'm waiting for the NES PowerGlove to make it's way onto the PC.
  • Vaguely reminiscent of the old Mindlink controller for the Atari 2600. That had a band you stuck on your head which would detect facial muscle movements. I think it was probably more fun to watch someone else playing with it than to do so yourself...
  • > I'm waiting for the NES PowerGlove to make it's way onto the PC.

    Actually, Cybernet is helping Essential Reality [essentialreality.com] do just that. They made the original one, and we're helping them make the current incarnation which is a much more sophisticated USB device. Supposedly it comes out sometime this year, and the harried look on our Lead Engineer for the project leads me to believe they'll probably meet that deadline...

    Ron Hay
    rhay@cybernet.com
    Game Designer/Developer
    Cybernet Systems Corp.
  • ok...your ignorant.
    Seriously, I think it is where you place a pen on a fulcrum in between the two buttons creating a mini see saw that helps you hit the buttons faster...or at least prevents you from pushing down on both buttons at the same time...
  • Heck, I built an electro-mechanical version to do something like this back in my Interfacing Small Computers class. Ripped apart a Thrustmaster programmable Throttle unit, hooked it to a couple of A/D convertors for 2 potentiometers and a microcontroller. Then programmed the microcontroller to read the pots, and depending on where they were, it would fire one of the programmable button lines on the thrustmaster which would send out a keystroke to the game. Worked great on X-Wing for changing views.

    Now, I'll be impressed with something like this when it is combined with a Head Mounted Stereo display. That way when you turn your head to the left you don't have to move your eyes way tot eh right to still see the fixed position computer screen... At least it's a start....
  • Sure, it is easy to say that this will suck because you twitch a lot gaming. Well, some of us don't and I have an interesting thought here. This would actually be pretty cool for games that have a slew view, such as MechWarrior games or flight simulators. Moving your head a certain distance might activate that slew mode, so you dont need to waste keys on it. I like that idea a lot; it would make that feature so much easier, and with MW4 being released friday, I might have to snag a copy of this from somewhere. What an interesting twist to strategy this can provide.
  • Can I call 'em and ask for a replacement if my head falls off after "yet another battle" ?

    --
  • I find that as I play Unreal Tournament (like it better than Quake) I already move a lot.

    My collegues sometimes make fun of me if I try to dodge a missile by moving briskly aside, mouse, head, body and all. Now these movements may actually be used, so, I think it may add to the total game experience.


    ----------------------------------------------

  • Questions (Score:3)

    by tmark ( 230091 ) on Tuesday November 14, 2000 @05:46AM (#625198)
    I've experimented with a variety of webcams in the last month (IBM PC Camera and PC Camera Pro, 3com Home Connect, Creative VideoBlaster III, Ezonics EZ-Cam...) and can say that the rates at which these things grab frames is pretty slow, with no CPU usage. I have to wonder how well they would really function as the front end of a game controller on a machine under heavy load (as when playing Quake). I wonder whether a frame-grabber board might not work better ?

    The low frame rate problem would probably be exacerbated when you consider you would probably have to move your head a fairly large distance (at least an inch ? ) for the software to be able to reliably detect movement.

    Also, it seems like a camera pointed directly at your head is only going to be able to discriminate between four directions (head up, down, left, right), and wouldn't be able to easily detect (head forward, head back), which might be important directions if you were playing a FPS.

    Finally, I wonder how sophisticated the motion detection scheme is ? How would they deal with, e.g. the rotation of your head, which might look to a simple-minded scheme like side-to-side movement ?

  • ...I want...to extend my desktop from one screen to a full 360 wraparound. Maybe even an virtual globe centering on me. Wouldn't this be a bit much? Your head and neck can't swivel thru 360 degrees in all 3 axes. You might find yourself in some strange contortions such as bending over backward, sitting with head between knees, etc. Wouldn't that be great for programming? ... Only problem I see is getting the mouse to work well under those circumstances, since it would have much farther to travel, relatively speaking. I already use screen "wraparound" software (i.e., pointer exits left edge/reappears on right) in combination with a trackball.
  • Sure, this sounds cool, but the usefulness of it is pretty minimal. For quite some time now, since the advent of Doom, the most popular input device combination for computer gamers (or at least the professional ones), has been keyboard+mouse, because of the number of buttons and quickness of response. It'd be nigh impossible to perform a rocket jump (aim straight down + fire rocket + jump to blast self into air) and then aim at an enemy on the ground using your head. Try (but carefully!) to move your head one way and then reverse direction and go the other. Now do the same with a mouse. And I don't believe this can be used to click your mouse buttons, either, unless it's got a real good way to pick up on left/right eye blinks as clicks :)

    But yes, I will concede that this is "a-cool-thing," and might find a small niche in the gaming market. It reminds me of the arcade gimmick machines where you (and optionally a friend) stand in front of a blue screen and play Tekken by really punching, kicking, and jumping. It was almost impossible to do anything in the game correctly and quickly (ie: forget combos), but it was still damn fun.
  • I am interested in this - my main question is what do you guys use for tracking? Accelerometers? It didn't appear that there was any form of "full 6DOF tracking", based on the video - but rather a limited yaw/pitch/roll tracking (in other words, it looks like you are tracking orientation of the hand, and not position).

    How are you guys "getting around" the VPL/Lanier patents (or are you licensing them from Thompson)?

    What is the price target? And will there be Linux support in some manner?

    I support the EFF [eff.org] - do you?

  • Tracking head movement is so low-expectations when Cybernet also offers a high-speed real-time optical tracking system designed for full body motion capture. [cybernet.com]

    Now, if some enterprising programmer out there can figure out how to interface this to Quake or to a PS/2. Then add some force-feedback equipment!!!

    Can you GNU???
  • I have broken an old (almost) 10 lb. Northgate Keyboard over games of Quake before. I can't imagine banging my head against the wall as hard as I can ;) It may actually save me money in the long run ;)

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