Windows 7: Researchers develop 3-D squeezable input device

Researchers develop 3-D squeezable input device

By Jeremy Kirk
December 1, 2009 12:56 PM ET

IDG News Service - A team of researchers has developed a squeezable mouse-like input device that gives three-dimensional control to its users.

The device is called Suma, short for satsuma or the mandarin fruit, said Duncan Smith, head of consumer product development for Cambridge Consultants, which licenses its innovations to manufacturers.

Cambridge Consultants is developing several versions of Suma that will be shown in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company can't reveal too much as it is in the process of filing for a patent for Suma, but it is releasing some details.

Inside Suma's pliant foam are light actuators surrounding a sensor core. As Suma is squeezed, those actuators detect pressure and movement changes. Those signals are processed with software inside Suma and then sent to the software program that can accommodate the device.

The difference between Suma and a controller for Nintendo's Wii, for example, is that the motion-based controllers allow users to move objects but not manipulate the shape, which has the potential for a new range of applications, Smith said.