We have been stuck with the mouse since the popularization of personal computers. I do wonder why we have not yet moved beyond them. Perhaps shortly we will. These devices, and their family, are destined to replace the humble mouse, perhaps very soon.
The Novint Falcon is the device being used instead of a mouse in the Aurora concept videos. This could be a very useful controller for much much more than gaming, especially as interfaces take on 3-dimensional attributes. The most interesting thing about it is that it not only navigates three-dimensionally but also gives sensory feedback according to what you are interacting with. Imagine sifting through windows on your Mac desktop using this.
Now that you have taken a look, I would like to ask you to fantasize for a moment about how a device like this could change the way we use computers.
For one thing, it could give depth to your monitor, a z-axis functionality that is much more than the ability to "stack:" I mean transforming the 2-dimensional "desktop" into a "box."
Secondly, note that the way we currently use the computer, there is an entire aspect of the world that is not represented, namely that we can feel the shape, weight, force or momentum of things. How can these types of sensations in the interface design make our use of computers more intuitive, productive or fun? What if you could feel what you are working on? What sorts of barriers would be broken? Hmm.
Here is some theory to synthesize into your thoughts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptics, http://haptic.edutechie.com/theory/
The other haptic interface that holds enormous potential, I think, is camera-based 3-D gesture recognition. There are several companies such as Softkinetic preparing to sell these devices (meaning, have them sold by a big player like Sony). My guess is that we might see first popular use of these on the Wii. Imagine playing your Wii without need for a controller at all, just move your body in 3-dimensional space. As for researching on the Web, it would become much more like the interface portrayed in Minority Report, (the one part of that movie everyone seems to remember and talk about, eh?). This has huge possibilities, though I can't really think offhand how you would be able to incorporate force-feedback in the way of the Novint device described above. Hmm. For more: http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/26/throw-away-the-wii-3d-sensing-technolo...
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