Inclusion Daily Express -- Have Nose Will Travel: Introducing The 'Nouse' (Sept. 16, 2004)

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Have Nose Will Travel: Introducing The 'Nouse'
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
September 16, 2004

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--You could say the latest technology in hands-free computing is a nose ahead of the rest.

Dmitry Gorodnichy, an inventor from the National Research Council's Institute of Information Technology introduced the "Nouse" at a symposium in Ottawa on Thursday.

The Nouse is a computer program that uses a simple Webcam to focus on the tip of the user's nose. When the user moves his or her nose, the curser moves on the computer screen.

Mouse "clicks" are controlled by blinking: Double-blink the right eye to produce a "right click". Double-blink the left eye to "left click".

The Nouse is one of several new "perceptual user interface" systems that take users' movements - such as the motion of the face - to control a software program.

The IIT lab has created a few simple applications to demonstrate the new tool, including "NousePaint", which allows users to draw on the screen using only the nose and eyes, multiple-user "NousePong" and a point-and-shoot game called "BubbleFrenzy".

Experts believe the Nouse could make computers and the Internet more accessible to people with certain disabilities who cannot use a traditional mouse or keyboard. It may also become popular with video gamers.

After seeing a demonstration of the Nouse, Joe Laszlo, a technology analyst at Jupiter Research, told one newspaper, "I cannot ignore the high silliness factor of Nouse. People baulk at doing things that require them to look silly, and there is ample room for looking silly here."

Related:
Perceptual User Interfaces Using 'Nouse' (Institute for Information Technology)

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