Unusual Interfaces: Nose gets Work as Mouse

Nouse TM, which stands for 'Nose as Mouse' and is pronounced ['naus], offers the means of controlling computers with one's nose. Dmitry Gorodnichy of the Institute of Information Technology in Ottawa, Canada, who invented the device, says that thanks to Mother Nature, 1) the nose tip is unique in its appearance, 2) it is located right in the middle of the face and between the eyes, and 3) it is also the furthest point on our face from the axis of face rotations, which all make this part of our face the best for computers to detect and, at the same time, the most convenient for humans to operate with.

Operation is based on tracking the so-called convex-shape nose feature. This nose feature is rotation and scale invariant, it is seen at all times regardless of the face orientation. It also can be tracked with sub-pixel precision guaranteed, and as such it makes it possible to operate with your nose as with a mouse (or a pen) or a joystick (or a pointer).

A few applications, such as NousePaint, multiple-user NousePong and an aim-n-shoot BubbleFrenzy game can be downloaded from http://synapse.vit.iit.nrc.ca/Nouse/index2.html.

'There is something special about the nose,' Gorodnichy says, in a New Scientist article about his invention.

'Others agree', the article goes on. '"The 3D nose tracker will definitely have a place in human-computer interaction in future, but most likely in conjunction with the mouse and keyboard rather than as an alternative," says Charles Cohen, vice-president of R&D at Cybernet System in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which makes gesture recognition systems for TV weather forecasters. He says future computer games might rely on joystick input, but might also allow extra moves driven by the nose.

'But Joe Laszlo, a technology analyst at Jupiter Research in New York City, is sceptical. "I cannot ignore the high silliness factor of nouse," he says. "People baulk at doing things that require them to look silly and there is ample room for looking silly here."'

And The Register has a letters page devoted to whether it is silly or not at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/17/letters_ii_1709/

Associated Link: New Scientist: Nose-steered mouse could save aching arms

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