Computer Mouse Manipulation Device

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

Most of us would agree that personal computers and the internet have improved our lives dramatically. There is so much power and potential in these tools that sit so conveniently at our fingertips. But what if you had only half as many fingertips? How would your use of computers and the internet change? Using two hands to operate your standard home or business computer is something most of us take for granted. How well would you function at surfing the web, playing multiplayer online games, or just doing you standard workload with the use of only one hand? Try it for yourself and see. Two handed operation is simply a prerequisite for many first person PC games and other complex software programs that rely on the mouse & keyboard combination and where time is a factor.

My design submission is intended to remove this barrier, allowing prosthesis users unfettered access to the digital world by giving them a fully functional computer mouse they can control without tying up their native hand.

The Computer Mouse Manipulation Device is designed to connect to a standard computer mouse. It is capable of operating both left and right mouse buttons as well as the scroll wheel, granting the user increased computer operability and functionality.
To control the cursor, the unit is shifted on a flat surface in the direction of desired cursor movement, just as one would with an unattached mouse. To actuate the left mouse button, the user quickly presses down on their prosthetic limb. To actuate the right mouse button, the user quickly pulls up on their prosthetic limb. Doing either action twice in quick succession constitutes a "double-click". This configuration supports the common "click-and-drag" operation. In addition to these mouse functions, the scroll wheel can be controlled via the scroll wheel actuator, flexible drive line and the addition of a simple, foot operated roller not included in the submitted design.