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Have you ever thought about what the future of the computer mouse might be? Frankly the mouse hasn’t even changed much over the years, and I have come to take for granted its role as the reliable computer pointing device (and the best for controller for FPS). Of course with all the hype about touch screens and other new technologies, I try to keep an open mind. Meanwhile, some of the geniuses at Microsoft Research have had other ideas. They have been trying to help the lowly computer mouse along by creating mashing-up  with some of the these new technologies. And the results are pretty weird.

Microsoft demoed five new multitouch mice called the FTIR, Orb Mouse, Cap Mouse, “Side” Mouse, and — weirdest of them all — the “Arty” Mouse. Let me just say this up front: I don’t think I (or anyone else) would really want to use one of these mice for more than a minute or two. Sure, they might be fun to play with at an electronics show — but only for curiosity’s sake.  There doesn’t really seem to be any actual need to have multitouch on a mouse — it just makes the mouse complex and kind of awkward.

Here’s the breakdown. The Cap Mouse just seems to be a laptop track pad wrapped around a mouse — so, not too ground breaking. The FTIR and Orb Mouse work by illuminating your hand and fingers, and then using a camera to detect input. While cameras are an interesting way to collect the user input, who really needs to pinch zoom this much?  The “Arty” mouse is a weird little creature: it has two pads that extend and move away from the body of the mouse.  Each pad has an optical sensor in it as for detecting fingers and presses.  In the video demo of  “Arty” the only use appears to be to continuously make the pinch zoom gesture over and over again.

What about Side Mouse? To me, this is the only one that actually piques some interest. Instead of pressing buttons on the mouse you rest your palm on it and instead tap the surface of the table. The Side Mouse uses proximity sensing technology to determine the position of your fingers and the gestures you are making. In the video you can see how this could work with Microsoft’s Surface OS. Surprise: they use a whole slew of pinch gestures.

Are we likely to see these mice in stores anytime soon? My guess is no. This is a classic research center project — a lot of engineering time and money put into incremental improvements with little practical value. After all, why would anyone want to use a “touch” mouse with the Surface OS? The touch screen itself seems like enough. I’m sure they’ll file a bunch of patents — thus preemting innovations with more practical value from stealing the show.