amenbo 5 finger mouse

‘amenbo’ replaces a traditional mouse with a system capable of obtaining movement and pressure information about all five fingers

‘amenbo’, a new input device by japan-based company double research and development, measures the movements and pressure of individual fingers, opening a range of expanded computing possibilities.

kazumasa ueno, head of the company’s control systems group, notes that ‘amenbo’ differs from kinect and other 3D image recognition systems in its ability to sense finger pressure. one sensor is located in each of the five panels, so unlike a touchscreen, the device recognizes each finger as being part of a single hand, and can track movement information even when individual fingers are lifted off the surface.

the most immediate application for the ‘amenbo’ technology is in manipulating 3D models and CAD data. occasionally CAD work requires the use of a 3D mouse and ordinary mouse at the same time, but ‘amenbo’ packages both of these functions into a single device, controllable with one hand.

ueno also suggests that the company may use the technology in their robotics production: ‘our company is making a robot hand with five fingers. if you assigned this to each finger and moved them, you could operate the robot hand. these days most robots operate with two or three fingers, but we think that with this it would be simple to have fine control of many flexible fingers.‘

full view of the device

detail view

‘software view’ of the data provided by ‘amenbo’

demo and discussion of ‘amenbo’ by kazumasa ueno, head of the control systems group at double research and development

via diginfo