An early combimouse
prototype has been succesfully tested for usability by Wichita State University. Click here to view the report. Issues identified in the study have been resolved.
The
left unit is stationary and provides the function of the left hand side
of a conventional QWERTY keyboard. The right unit has a similar mass and centre of gravity
to a conventional mouse. It also has a similar grip. Depending on the support surface it can have any desired mobility. The mechanism for ensuring mobility during mouse mode, and stability during keyboard mode is achieved in a novel way which is not shown on this website for confidentiality reasons.
 The combimouse right
unit is a mobile combination keyboard and mouse that can be moved around
on a support surface like a conventional mouse. The keys are arranged
in the fashion of the right hand side of a conventional QWERTY keyboard.
By default the right unit operates in keyboard mode. When the user grips the right unit and so touches the side of the unit in the area labeled above as 'Contact switch', the right unit automatically changes to mouse mode.
When in this mode, movement of the right unit enables cursor movement on the screen and the keys I, O, J, K, L and < become mouse click buttons.
Moving between keyboard and mouse modes is effortless and intuitive. The transition time between the two modes is insignificant.
The combimouse has
been configured to enable two different methods of operating the right
unit whilst in mouse mode. The hand positions for both are comfortable
and intuitive. See the video which illustrates these concepts more clearly.
Grip
1 has only two fingers on the mouse keys. The comma key
doubles as the left click button whilst the L key doubles as
the right click button. |
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Grip
2 has three fingers on the mouse keys. The left click button is
the J key, the middle click button is the I key and the
the right click button is the O key |
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