The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Blinking to replace remote controls, claims Japanese boffin

Total winker?

What you need to know about cloud backup

A Japanese researcher is planning to revolutionise the humble remote control in the blink of an eye, literally.

Kome Kami Switch

All this to skip tracks on your iPod
Image courtesy AFP

Kazuhiro Taniguchi, a researcher at the Osaka University Graduate School of Engineering Science, has invented a blink-operated switch called the Kome Kami Switch.

It's mounted onto someone's head and uses infrared sensors to monitor temple movements related to blinking, which in turn can be used to control a whole host of everyday gadgets, including TVs, air conditioners and lighting systems.

Taniguchi has already adapted the switch to control an iPod, a system that he demonstrated earlier this week at the ongoing Expo Comm Wireless show in Japan.

The wearer closes both their eyes for one second to start the iPod up and then blinks their right eye to move forwards by one track. Blinking their left eye makes it skip back one track. Just don't play any Blink 182 and get completely confused...

Taniguchi told French news agency AFP that his switch can differentiate between deliberate and autonomic blinks. “You don’t have to worry about the system moving incorrectly,” he said, because the unit “picks up signals when you close your eye firmly.” So your blinks will have to be more akin with I Dream of Jeannie to get the music flowing.

The researcher hopes to launch a venture within two to three years that will help commercialise his switch. He even hopes the switch can be adapted to help people operate mobile phones with blinks.

Cloud based data management

Latest Comments

Needs contols for the elbow

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

(The one with the big foot on the back)

0
0

This has already been given the kiss of death...

Because I saw a similar thing demonstrated on Tomorrow's World! It was a product for disabled people to use instead of a computer mouse and worked on following the direction of gaze to point, and wink to click. They had someone demonstrating it by playing solitaire. It must have been ages ago as they were using windows 3.11.

0
0

some bstard has nicked my ipod!

Close my eyes to activate my ipod ... 1 second later I open my eyes ... some bastard's nicked my ipod! ;)

0
0

More from The Register

 breaking news
Curtain drops on Apple Store ahead of WWDC: What lies behind?
Steve Jobs watching from on high. No pressure, lads
 breaking news
Cold, dead hands of Steve Jobs slip from iPhones: The Cult of Ive is upon us
Billionaire biz baron's death clears way for uber-shiny iOS 7
Microsoft in sexism strife again over XBOX rape joke
E3 demo used 'offensive' and 'inappropriate' language
Airbus imagines suitcases that find themselves
Point your mobe at your smalls to track their every move
Nokia, Microsoft put on brave face as Lumia 925s parachute into Blighty
Pair get cracking on new ad blitz for latest smartphone
Surprise! Intel smartphone trounces ARM in power trials
Tests show equal performance while sipping significantly less juice
Apple said to be 'exploring' 5.7-inch iPhone
Who's the copycat this time, Mr. Cook?
Review: Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock
Missing Mac ports reunited, for a price
Australian 'Apple tax' repealed for MacBook Air
But the new MacPro is priced at a premium