History of the evolution of computer manipulators. Manipulators
Personal computer device
5.1 Manipulators
There are currently two types of manipulators:
· Mouse - with the development of operating systems with graphical interfaces, this manipulator has simply become an “indispensable” part of a personal computer. The mouse provides simple and convenient control of many functions of the OS and application programs.
Mice differ in three characteristics - the number of buttons, the technology used and the type of connection between the device and the system unit. In its original form, the device had one button. The selection of functions is determined by moving the mouse, but the selection of a function occurs only using a button, which avoids accidentally starting a task when searching through menu functions. With one button you can implement only the minimum capabilities of the device. The whole job of the computer in this case is to determine the position of the button - whether it is pressed or not.
However, a well-designed menu allows full control of the computer. However, two buttons increase the flexibility of the system. For example, one button can be used to start a function, and the second to cancel it. Without a doubt, three buttons will further increase the flexibility of control. But, on the other hand, the increase in buttons increases the similarity of the device with a keyboard, returning to it the disadvantages of the latter. Almost three buttons is a reasonable limit because it allows the index, middle, and ring fingers to rest on the buttons while the thumb and pinky are used to move the mouse and hold it in the palm.
Most models are equipped with two buttons, but with the advent of manipulators with “scroll” (scroll roller), two-button mice are gradually disappearing into the shadows, since “scroll” simultaneously performs two functions: it can be used as a third button, and is very convenient for scrolling documents.
There are two types of mice: ball mice and optical mice. Ball manipulators use a mechanical method of transmitting the direction of movement (the ball located at the bottom of the manipulator, when moving, rotates two rollers located inside). Optical mice use an LED instead of a ball.
The mouse has several connection types: COM, PS/2, USB, IR (infrared port).
“Mice” with a connection type using a COM port are one of the first manipulators. Basically they were equipped with two buttons. It stayed on the market for quite a long time. PS/2 manipulators are still widely used today, despite the rapidly developing other types of connections. USB and IR connections are used mainly for optical manipulators. Unlike all other connection types, mice using infrared require an additional power source. Batteries are usually used.
· Joystick - is a movable handle (or steering wheel) with several buttons. This input device is most common in the field of computer games. Game consoles use digital joysticks, while computers use analog joysticks. An analog joystick has many advantages over a digital joystick. The most important are greater control accuracy and the absence of the need to use a special card and adapter to connect to a computer.
Computers for people with disabilities
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PC peripherals
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Modern external devices
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Devices for inputting information into a personal computer
Although the keyboard has not yet lost its importance for the user’s communication with the computer, another device for manual input of information - the mouse - is becoming more and more significant and important. But even at the risk of making an elephant out of a mouse, we can confidently say...
Personal computer device
Currently, there are two types of manipulators: · Mouse - with the development of operating systems with a graphical interface, this manipulator has simply become an “indispensable” part of a personal computer...
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Joystick
Mouse
Along with the keyboard, the mouse is an important input device.
Mouse – “graphic” control device. A “mouse” manipulator (in everyday life simply “mouse” or “mouse”) is one of the pointing input devices that provides a user interface with a computer.
The mouse perceives its movement in the working plane (usually on a section of the table surface) and transmits this information to the computer. A program running on a computer, in response to mouse movement, produces an action on the screen that corresponds to the direction and distance of this movement.
In addition to the motion detector, the mouse has from one to three (or more) buttons, as well as additional controls (scroll wheels, potentiometers, joysticks, trackballs, keys, etc.), the action of which is usually associated with the current position of the cursor (or components of a specific interface).
History of the computer mouse
The mouse was invented in 1964 Stanford Institute of Science. At first, the mouse moved into the computer market rather slowly, but due to the widespread use GUI(Graphics User Interface - graphical user interface) it has become a must-have accessory for every computer.
The manipulator received the name “mouse” at the Stanford Research Institute due to the similarity of the signal wire with the tail of the rodent of the same name (in early models it came out of the back of the device).
Types of computer mice:
Optical-mechanical mice
In optical-mechanical mice, the main working organ is massive ball(metal, covered with rubber).
When the mouse moves across the surface, it rotates, the rotation is transmitted to two shafts, the position of which is read by infrared optocouplers (i.e., light emitter-photodetector pairs) and then converted into an electrical signal that controls the movement of the mouse pointer on the monitor screen.
The main “enemy” of such a mouse is pollution.
Optical and laser mice
Currently, optical mice are widely used, in which no mechanical parts. A light source located inside the mouse illuminates the surface, and the reflected light is captured by a photodetector and converted into cursor movement on the screen.
Optical sensors are designed to directly monitor the movement of the working surface relative to the mouse. The elimination of the mechanical component ensured higher reliability and made it possible to increase the resolution of the detector.
In recent years, a new, more advanced type of optical sensor has been developed using for illumination semiconductor laser.
Modern mouse models can be wireless, i.e. connecting to a computer without a cable.
Using the mouse
- The right mouse button (RMB) is used to display a context menu, that is, a menu whose content depends on where the mouse pointer is located.
Mouse pointers
In graphics mode, the mouse pointer is usually shaped like an arrow and can be moved with pixel precision, making it easier to position.
The mouse pointer can take different forms depending on where it is located, what state the program it is in, what actions can be performed with the mouse, etc.
Interfaceconnectionsmice:
The mouse can be connected in one of four ways:
1. Using a special adapter in the form of an expansion card (installed in the motherboard)
2. Using a standard serial port (COM1 or COM2 depending on the size of the socket on the mouse cable - 9 or 25 pin) - obsolete
3. Using the PS/2 port (6-pin round connector, green)
4. Via USB port (rectangular)
Mice can be two-button, three-button, “scrolling” (a button for scrolling documents)
There are combo mice that work both from the serial port and from the PS/2 connector (a special adapter is used.)
Manufacturers:
The best radio mice are mice from Logitech and Genius.
Optomechanical mice from Genius, Microsoft
Wireless mice
Wireless mouse
The most inconvenient thing for the user is the mouse interface wire, which always gets tangled and caught. To get rid of it, use radio or infrared interfaces. Such mice are still most often used with laptops. Modern desktop personal computers have an infrared IrDa interface, but mice with such an interface are very rare.
The radio interface has only recently begun to be used for low-cost devices. And for devices such as a mouse and keyboard, unfortunately, radio interface options are most often offered that are too simple. In such cases, radio channels are used in the frequency range 2400.5-2483.5 MHz, and the user himself selects the desired radio channel. That is, anyone can work on one channel, even a neighbor behind the wall. The “range” of the radio interface ranges from 2 to 7 m (and possibly further). And since there are no means of identification, you can easily control the cursor not only of your computer, but also of your neighbor, who will then spend a long time looking for a new “virus”.
By the way, the use of a cheap implementation of the radio interface opens such a gap in the computer’s security system that even the coolest hacker could not dream of. If the user uses a keyboard-mouse kit with a radio interface, then after some time, using a sensitive radio receiver and a tape recorder, the hacker will be aware of all the user’s problems, and to obtain passwords and logins he will not even need any hacking programs.
Most often, a combined interface is used for wireless mouse manipulators, when an additional unit is connected to the RS-232 or USB ports of the computer, which contains an infrared receiver that receives data from the mouse. An infrared LED is built into a wireless mouse, the beam of which is modulated by data from the mouse movement sensor. Various cheap mouse models with a radio interface work in the same way.
The wireless mouse is powered by batteries. Accordingly, when the batteries run out, problems begin. Visually, this manifests itself in intermittent movement of the mouse pointer, and the user has the feeling that the mouse ball is sliding across the mouse pad. To some extent, such side effects can be compensated by changing the position of the unit with the photodetector or antenna, but the most correct thing is to install new batteries.
Devices designed to interact with objects in folder and program windows on a monitor screen in the same way as a hand would do are classified as manipulators (from lat. manipula - hand). Relative manipulators: mouse, joystick, touchpad; absolute – digitizer.
Mouse - a device for positioning the mouse pointer (in the form of an arrow, a cross, a vertical stick) on the screen image and for interacting with objects by issuing commands with buttons. The use of a mouse is based on the capabilities of the graphical interface (user interaction with the computer) provided by modern operating systems.
An ordinary mouse slides on a table or on a rug, but as it moves, sensors transmit data about the direction and length of the path to the system unit via the mouse's tail cable.
Clicking the mouse buttons sends additional command codes. The processor processes all incoming codes and sends control signals to change the position of the mouse pointer on the screen image or a command.
The mouse has primary and secondary buttons that you can press (hold down), click (click)
short press) to launch a program or open a file.
Mouse actions have several options:
- click buttons – pressing the right or left button with a quick release;
- double click– double short and quick press of the button;
- holding the button when moving the mouse, it allows you to select, hook and move an object or border;
- holding down a key keyboards Ctrl, Shift or Alt when a mouse button is pressed, it modifies its action and the commands issued.
Simply moving the mouse without pressing buttons causes the mouse pointer to glide across objects on the screen, but does not issue commands. Nothing happens other than tooltips appearing. But when the pointer is positioned and the mouse button is clicked, the image object will be affected.
Position of fingers on mouse buttons: index finger – left button; ring finger – right button; middle finger – scroll wheel (if available) or middle button (for a three-button mouse); for a two-button mouse, the middle finger is not used.
The main mouse button (usually the left one) is briefly pressed with the index finger (click) to select the cursor position in the text, highlight or make an object on the screen active.
Attention! Double-clicking opens a folder or file if the clicks are short, fragmentary, with very close intervals. You should not crush the mouse button, you should not get stuck when clicking. You cannot push or pull the mouse while clicking on a folder, because, having caught a folder, the mouse may not open it, but push it into an adjacent folder. Two calm but short presses (click-click) are required.
A long press of the mouse button while moving it is used to select an area of text or a picture, drag with a “hook,” and move objects and their borders on the screen. Some actions are performed with the mouse in combination with pressing keyboard keys. For example, Ctrl and the left mouse button with a hook on the object - not moving, but copying.
The operating system assigns the secondary mouse button (usually the right one) to open a context menu of commands or parameters (a list for selecting commands based on the position of the pointer on the screen). Contextual commands depend on the program in which you are currently using the mouse.
In some mouse models, some additional command-service is performed by the middle button (for example, closes Windows windows) or the content scroll wheel when viewing folders and programs in windows.
The operation of the mouse is supported by a special program - the mouse driver. In the Windows operating system, the mouse is configured using the command Start, Control Panel, Mouse. You can change the maximum speed (frequency) of pressing the mouse button (click interval), change the type of pointer and its sensitivity to mouse movement, change the assignment of the main and auxiliary buttons for left-handers.
A mechanical mouse monitors its movement by the rotation of an internal ball, which rolls on the mousepad. An optical mouse uses photocells to view the flickering of surface points being traversed and can work without a mouse pad. Radio and gyro mice track and transmit their movements using a radio signal, without a mouse pad or cable. Such "bats" are suitable for remote control, in particular, presentations. (A gyroscope is a top spun to high speed, the axis of rotation of which has the property of maintaining its position under external influences. Gyroscopes are used to orient flying objects, and now “bats.”) An interactive mouse has a vibration generator inside to transmit tactile sensations, accompanies movement “by touch”, with elasticity and trembling, conveys the passage of the pointer over the program buttons and across the window border.
Digitizer– a device for inputting a graphic vector image obtained as a result of moving the pointer along a special surface by the hand of the PC operator. The device consists of a graphics tablet and a pointer (pen, cursor). The tablet connects to the PC, and the pen connects to the tablet. The operating principle of the digitizer is based on fixing the location of the pointer using a grid of conductors built into the tablet. The step of reading the information is called digitizer resolution. Digitizers are used when working with computer-aided design systems and graphic editors.
The history of the emergence, development and improvement of manipulators is not as simple and short as it might seem at first glance: for example, an ordinary computer mouse was invented almost half a century ago.
Since then, the entire civilized world has been closely following her reincarnations. As for the first keyboards, their concept appeared long before the advent of the personal computer (remember mechanical typewriters). However, before we begin to describe the history of these devices, let’s define the terminology: by manipulators we mean the following devices that have ever existed: mouse, keyboard, trackball, trackpoint (pointing stick), graphics tablet (digitizer), light pen, touchpad , touch screen, Roller Mouse, joystick, Kinect and other game controllers.
How the keyboard has changed
The first computers, dating back to the late 40s, supported information entry using both punched cards and teletypes. Later, with the development of computers, punched cards began to be perceived as a relic of the past, and they were replaced by more advanced methods of storing information, such as magnetic tapes.
In the 60s, with the advent of the first video terminals, which made it possible to display input and output information in real time, text input finally became the main way of communication between a person and a computer. Of course, in those days there were no graphical interfaces, and a primitive keyboard was enough to work in text mode.
As already mentioned in the introduction, the first keyboards appeared long before personal computers: their history began with the development of mechanical typewriters in 1868. This method of entering information was quick and convenient, and as a result it quickly caught on. The next step was teletypes, which replaced the telegraph at the beginning of the last century, and then electric typewriters and the first computers appeared. Thus, keyboards changed from mechanical to electronic. The world's first computer with a graphical interface, developed at Xerox PARC, was the Xerox Alto.
In the first personal computers, the keyboard was part of the case, but later, with the advent of the IBM PC concept, they began to be produced as independent devices, and later their wireless analogues appeared.
How was the input device connected to the operating system of a personal computer? At first, optical interfaces were used for communication, but they caused a lot of inconvenience due to the fact that they required a direct line of sight between the receiver and the transmitter, failed in bright light, and were subsequently supplanted by radio interfaces.
In addition to standard keyboards, today there are gaming keyboards, completely redesigned for left-handed play (Thrustmaster Tacticalboard and Belkin SpeedPad Nostromo n50), keyboards with interchangeable key sets for different games (Zboard), recessed keyboards (DataHand System), chord keyboards, backlit keyboards and more. It was developed by Artemy Lebedev Studio Optimus project- a keyboard in which the current value of each key is displayed through a small built-in LCD display, which displays exactly what it is currently controlling. “Optimus” is simultaneously suitable for any keyboard layout - Cyrillic, Ancient Greek, Georgian, Arabic, and can display notes, numbers, special characters, HTML codes, mathematical functions, images, etc. The configurator program allows you to program each button to play a sequence of characters, as well as edit the image for each individual layout.
A similar keyboard was once patented in the United States by Apple.
Among the promising areas of development in recent years we can highlight text input adaptation for portable devices. On traditional phones and smartphones, keyboards are compressed to twelve keys, each of which is responsible for a lot of characters. To speed up input, systems like T9 (which appeared in 1996) are used, which can select the appropriate word from the dictionary. Of the full-size keyboards typical for devices with touch displays, the Latin QWERTY keyboard layout is currently the most popular. Its name comes from the 6 left characters of the top row of the layout. Today, layouts for many other languages of the world have been created on the basis of such a keyboard. The experimental Shark (Shorthand-Aided Rapid Keyboarding) system, developed in 2004 by IBM, was a kind of shorthand that allowed you to enter words into a mobile device by marking them - letter by letter - on a virtual keyboard. For example, to enter the word word, the user did not press four separate virtual keys with the stylus, but simply drew a straight line from the letter “w” to the letter “d”. Such a system made it possible to type on a virtual keyboard without lifting the pen from the screen, but the mass introduction of such extensions never began.
Another variety - projection keyboard. The idea of implementing a virtual keyboard without wires and buttons was born about a decade ago within the walls of the Israeli company Developer VKB Inc. Presented at CeBIT 2002 by Siemens Procurement Logistics Services, the first virtual keyboard without a single mechanical or electrical element was the first practical implementation of this idea. The creators of the laser virtual keyboard interface assumed that their development could in practice be integrated into any mobile device - phone, laptop, tablet PC, and even into sterile medical equipment. However, during the entire existence of the concept, only one model was developed (iTECH Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard), which is a small box from which a keyboard image is projected using a laser onto any smooth surface, and pressing virtual keys is recorded by a special infrared sensor.
The evolution of the computer mouse
The history of the computer mouse begins with the appearance trackball.
The device was developed for the needs of the military, but customers were dissatisfied with the provided sample, and the invention was forgotten until the appearance of the first laptop models, but the use of trackballs in these devices was subsequently abandoned.
Functionally, the trackball is an inverted mechanical (ball) mouse. The ball is located on top or side, and the user can rotate it with the palm or fingers without moving the body of the device. Despite the external differences, the trackball and the mouse are structurally similar - when moving, the ball rotates a pair of rollers or, in a more modern version, it is scanned by optical motion sensors (as in an optical mouse).
Currently, trackballs are not used in home and office computers, but they have found application in industrial and military computing installations, ultrasound diagnostic devices, where the user has to work in conditions of limited space and in the presence of vibration. In general, the first computer mouse (with the functionality to which we are accustomed) was invented in 1964 by Douglas Karl Engelbart, an employee of the Stanford Research Institute. The information input device looked like a wooden box with a button that moved along the table on wheels, and, counting their revolutions and turns, entered information into the computer and thus controlled the movement of the cursor on the screen.
Initially mouse was not intended for personal computers at all, but for more precise control of a point on the radar screen. Let us note that Engelbart did not work alone on the creation of the manipulator: he is the author of the idea and the developer of the concept, but he did not technically manufacture the device itself. The first mouse was made by graduate student Bill English, and Jeff Rulifson, who joined them later, significantly improved the design of the mouse and developed software for it.
Subsequently, the creators of the first mouse received a grant for the serial production of their devices, and already at the end of 1968 the first full-fledged mouse appeared, which, unlike the prototype, no longer had one button, but three.
The next stage in the evolution of computer mice dates back to the 70s of the twentieth century, when engineers began to think about the ease of using computers for complex technical calculations. Thus, the first patented computer that included a mouse was the Xerox 8010 Star Information System minicomputer, presented to the general public in 1981, and already in 1983 Apple released its own model of a one-button mouse for the Lisa computer, note that This device configuration was maintained for many years. The computer mouse gained wide popularity thanks to its use in Apple Macintosh computers and later in Windows OS for IBM PC compatible computers.
Soon the GUI (Graphic User Interface) displaced text input-output into the area of specific tasks. By this time, instead of inconvenient wheels, mice began to be equipped with balls.
The next stage in the evolution of computer mice was the appearance optical manipulators, and subsequently, starting with the creation of the Logitech MX1000 mouse in 2004 (Fig.6), their laser wireless analogues with optical and radio interfaces, as well as with induction power supply (devices manufactured by A4Tech).
Another version of this manipulator is 3D mouse, capable of working in three-dimensional space.
According to the designers, the use of such devices will allow the user to move freely in three-dimensional space, which can be useful both in games and when working with three-dimensional graphics. The manipulator automatically adapts to the 3D editor used (AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk 3ds Max). Clicking, moving, rotating or tilting, zooming, and rotating the model can all be done simultaneously. The main element of a 3D mouse is the motion controller, which has the same operating principle in all models. Six degrees of freedom (three linear and three angular) provide movement and rotation of the model in all directions. In this case, you can turn off the degrees of freedom, invert the axes, and swap the Zoom in/Zoom out and Up/Down functions. The speed of movement/rotation depends on the force applied to the motion controller. Force sensitivity is adjusted through the settings panel.
Worthy of attention and graphics tablets(devices from Wacom, Genius, etc.), which are especially appreciated by artists and architects who work on a computer. No other manipulator allows you to achieve an equally believable imitation of a pencil or brush. The pen of graphics tablets is designed to compensate for the “clumsiness” of the mouse in artistic matters. For example, the system from Genius WizardPad distinguishes 256 levels of pressure on the pen. The tablet resolution reaches 2540 lines per inch, and its working surface area is 4-5 inches.
The tablet has a serial interface. The device is supplied with drivers for most Microsoft operating systems, including DOS and Windows 3.xx/95.
Manipulators for laptops can be classified into a separate group. As you know, mice are not always suitable for work on the road, and trackballs are quite difficult to integrate into a thin device body. Here they are replaced touchpads(TouchPad - touch panel).
The touchpad was invented in 1988 by George Gerfeide. Later, Apple licensed his project and, starting in 1994, began using it in PowerBook laptops. From this point on, the touchpad became the most common cursor control device for laptops. The operation of touchpads is based on measuring the capacitance of the finger or measuring the capacitance between the sensors. Capacitive sensors are located along the vertical and horizontal axes of the touchpad, which allows you to determine the position of your finger with the required accuracy. A type of touchpad is TouchWriter; it is distinguished by the fact that it is able to perceive pressure from both fingers and any objects (pencil base, stylus).
Previously, laptop manufacturers used instead of touchpads minijoysticks (trackpoints), located in the center of the keyboard and trackballs. TrackPoint - Pointing stick was invented by research scientist Ted Selker, and subsequently registered by IBM under the brand name TrackPoint. Traditionally, such a joystick had a replaceable rubber casing, which was made of a rough material for user convenience. The cursor is controlled by detecting the applied force (hence the name strain gauge joystick), using a pair of resistive strain sensors (resistive strain gauges). The cursor movement vector is determined in accordance with the applied force. The main drawback of the device was cursor drift, requiring frequent recalibration. Therefore, over time, its implementation was abandoned.
To ensure that the use of manipulators built into a laptop does not become a serious stress for the user, manufacturers invented more and more new devices. One such solution was the Mouse Tablet kit (model MT-604C) manufactured by WinPal Electronics. It included a graphics tablet, an electronic pen and a three-button mouse without a ball. Note that the kit consumed impressive amounts of electricity when in use, and the Mouse Tablet kit comes with an impressive package of drivers and software. Changing the active device (that is, switching from a pen to a mouse and vice versa) was carried out by pressing any button on the corresponding manipulator. Say, when you press the tip of the pen, the latter becomes active; the same effect is achieved by pressing the left mouse button. The graphics tablet and pen could work in both direct interaction with the monitor screen (absolute coordinator) and indirect (relative). The Mouse Tablet driver menu also made it possible to calibrate the pen and mouse, set the working surface area, and adjust the pen and mouse according to user preferences.
The significant disadvantages of the device were: 1. due to the use of electromagnetic technology in the Mouse Tablet, the tablet could be subject to interference from other elements of the computer (for example, a monitor). In addition, he could not tolerate temperatures above 40°C, so a cup of hot coffee on the table could easily be “deadly” for him. Another serious drawback: incompatibility with standard manipulators supported by Windows: if you entered safe mode, the Mouse Tablet stopped functioning, and, moreover, could “drag” the keyboard with it, which significantly slowed down the work process.
Technologies of our days
As for modern technologies, we note that recently users have given preference touch screens, created specifically to reduce the size of the PDA. They can be found in pocket computers, smartphones, Tablet PCs, and all kinds of terminals. One of the main disadvantages of touch panels has always been the lack of tactile feedback, as a result of which it was impossible to use them blindly. However, the American company Immersion offered a way out and developed TouchSense technology, which adds a feedback function to sensitive screens. The technology was first demonstrated on a 19-inch screen in 2005, and its long-awaited transfer to mobile devices is planned for 2010-2011.
Often the touch screen is controlled using stylus, a device made in the form of a small thin pen with a special tip. The progenitor of the stylus is light pen(English light pen).
Externally, the device looked like a ballpoint pen or pencil connected by a wire to one of the computer’s I/O ports. Typically, a light pen had one or more buttons that were pressed by the hand holding the pen. Data input using a light pen was made by drawing lines with the pen across the surface of the monitor screen. A photocell was installed in the tip of the pen, which recorded the change in screen brightness at the point with which the pen was in contact, due to which the corresponding software calculated the position “indicated” by the pen on the screen. The buttons on the light pen were used similarly to the mouse buttons - to perform additional operations and enable additional modes.
Technology has evolved thanks to touch screens multi-touch(English multi-touch) - a function of touch input systems that simultaneously determines the coordinates of two or more touch points. Multi-touch screens allow several users to work with the device simultaneously, as well as determine the coordinates of touch points with maximum accuracy. Correct recognition of all touch points increases the capabilities of the touch input system interface. The most popular form of multi-touch devices are mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch), multi-touch tables (eg: Microsoft Surface) and multi-touch walls.
The use of technology began with touch screens to control electronic devices. The creators of the first synthesizers and electronic instruments, Hugh Le Caine and Bob Moog experimented with the use of capacitive touch sensors to control the sounds their instruments made.
A multi-touch table is a pedestal with a glass tabletop surface, which serves as a screen for a projector located at its base. Various multimedia content can be displayed on such a table: presentations, videos, slide shows. Communication between the user and the system is ensured by an interactive film (touch screen) glued to the glass surface; it also allows you to manage content using special software.
Unlike touch screens, a multi-touch table provides broader and more flexible options for controlling objects: the user can use multi-touch functions, as well as change multimedia objects, for example, enlarge, reduce, rotate, and move images. Another advantage of multi-touch tables is the ability for several users to simultaneously work within a single system, managing a large amount of information.
Should be included in a separate group game controllers. These include joysticks, gamepads, computer steering wheels and steering wheels, dance platforms, kinect, etc.
Interestingly, some modern game controllers have a feedback effect (Force Feedback technology). The first such devices appeared in the 90s in the USA, when the Immersion company, having received an order from government agencies to create a simulator for surgeons, decided to try to transfer one of the created technologies into the gaming space. The military became interested in the invention. Subsequently, the US Military Department acquired a batch of new manipulators for pilot training. So, in early 1996, Immersion released the first production joystick, Force-FX.
After this, active serial production of gaming wheels, steering wheels, etc. began. Another interesting technology in the field of gaming controllers is gyroscopes, with the help of which it is possible to determine changes in the location of the joystick in space. Their mass introduction began with the new generation consoles Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3.
An interesting modern input device is the Kinect (formerly Project Natal).
The game “controller without a controller” for Xbox 360 was developed by Microsoft. Based on adding a peripheral to the Xbox 360 game console, Kinect allows the user to interact with it without the aid of a game controller through verbal commands, body poses, and displayed objects or drawings. The device was first presented on June 1, 2009 at the E³ exhibition, where Microsoft demonstrated several methods of using the technology: Ricochet - a Breakout-like game in which the whole body is used to hit balls that break blocks and Paint Party - in which the player can throw paint on the wall . The player can select colors by voice and use body poses to create stencils. Visually, Kinect looks like this: it is a horizontal box on a small round base that is placed above or below the display. Its dimensions are approximately 23 cm in length and 4 cm in height.
The device consists of two depth sensors, a color video camera and a microphone array. Proprietary software provides full 3-dimensional recognition of body movements, facial expressions and voices. The microphone array allows the Xbox 360 to localize the source of sound and suppress noise, which makes it possible to talk without headphones and the Xbox Live microphone. The depth sensor consists of an infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS matrix, which allows the Kinect sensor to receive a three-dimensional image in any natural light. The depth range and design program allow the sensor to be automatically calibrated based on playing conditions and environmental conditions, such as furniture in the room.
We can only guess how manipulators will evolve in the near future. In the near future, computer recognition systems for human speech will become perfect and almost all technical devices can be controlled using voice; perhaps full-fledged tactile interfaces will emerge, allowing, for example, gamers everything that happens to their character during the game.
Development of neural interfaces is also underway. There are already several known cases where people confined to a wheelchair agreed to participate in an experiment on implantation of a special implant into the brain, thanks to which they were able to control the cursor on the monitor screen solely with the help of the “power of thought.” In general, the plot of the film “Surrogates” may soon become a reality.
However, I note that, as in life, innovations in working with manipulators are only good as long as the program works like a clock. The slightest malfunction in the operation of the operating system - and all non-standard devices with their proprietary drivers instantly “fly off”, and the average user will only have to admire the graphical interface, frantically remember (if he knows) the “hot keys” and regret that he did not take a regular computer with him mouse.
Input Devices
Manipulators
Manipulators are coordinate input devices, since the movement of the manipulator is converted into a change in the current screen coordinates. These devices allow you to speed up work with computer objects and provide more convenient management of them.Mouse
The widespread use of graphical interfaces led to the emergence of the mouse.According to the method of reading information, they can be classified into:
mechanical; optical-mechanical; optical. On the bottom surface mechanical mouse has a ball. Moving the mouse on a flat surface causes the ball to rotate, which interacts with sensors inside the mouse body. As a result, a signal is generated that causes the mouse pointer to move on the monitor screen.
Optical The mouse has a red LED for illumination and a miniature video camera that takes pictures of the surface underneath it (from 1500 to 6000 frames per second). A special processor compares two consecutive frames and calculates the magnitude and direction of the displacement.
There are usually 2 buttons on the top surface of the mouse. The computer perceives pressing a mouse button as an indication to perform some specified action. Nowadays, mice have appeared with a wheel designed for scrolling images and texts that do not fit entirely on the screen.
Using a mouse allows you to more quickly and conveniently control the operation of various programs.The quality of a mouse is determined by its resolution, which is measured by the number of dots per inch - dpi (dot per inch).
This characteristic determines how accurately the mouse pointer will move across the screen.
For middle-class mice, the resolution is 400-800 dpi. This means that when you move the mouse 1 inch (1 inch = 2.54 cm), the mouse pointer on the screen will move 400-800 pointsDifferent types of mice also differ from each other in the way they connect to the computer:
wired- connected using a cable; wireless, or “tailless” mice - connection to the computer is provided by an infrared signal, which is sensed by a special port.
