Tired of using the traditional mouse, keyboard, and touchscreens? You can soon control your smart devices using your tongue with Augmental’s latest innovation.
What’s your choice of control when you use a laptop or computer? Are you comfortable using the laptop’s touchpad or still resort to the traditional mouse and pad setting? While you think about what you like the most, here’s an innovation that will excite your mind and make your mouth a little uncomfortable, at least at first.
Augmental, a tech company, has created a new technology product that lets users control their smart devices just with their tongues. The flagship product is called MouthPad, a movement-sensitive device that attaches to the roof of your mouth. The touchpad senses tongue movements to identify instructions and then execute them on the device of choice using Bluetooth.
“It is a mouse for your mouth,” Corbin Halliwill, a software engineer at Augmental, the company that created the device, said.
The concept is pretty simple, but the product's use case is quite diverse. The main highlight of the MouthPad is its retainer-like trackpad chip, which debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. It allows users to scroll, type, make calls, and even play games like chess with a tongue’s swipe or click.
Who Is It For?
As an innovation, the MouthPad can be used by anyone willing to attach a touchpad to the roof of their mouth. But, the main users of the product are physically impaired or disabled people. The complete touch-free nature of the device improves access to many controls that were not possible for the differently abled otherwise. People with body paralysis can also get access to freely use smart devices like phones, tablets, laptops, or computers at their convenience. The maker of MouthPad, Halliwill, was inspired by the problem his friends and family faced due to paralysis.
Is There Any Existing Competition?
“A lot of things come close, but they always fall short,” Halliwill said. Many products in the market use limited body movement, head movement, and voice commands to give control access to disabled users. But the tongue sensor is a first-of-its-kind product, making other competitors quite indirect. The other alternatives are usually bulky or not portable. On the other hand, the MouthPad is extremely portable and tiny.
There Are Some Speculations About It
While the innovation is revolutionary, the company is still testing the product for the potential dangers and hazards before making it commercially available to the public. The team worked for over two years before releasing it on the floor of CES. The public speculation arising from this product’s current capabilities is whether it will retain its position on the mouth roof or is prone to the risk of accidental swallows. The main product will reveal many things we will cover as the information comes out. Till then, let’s celebrate an innovation that can help humans live a better life.
