From the way the cursor moved on the screen and the visualization of input with those orange squares, it looks like it operates similar to the thinkpad trackpoint. (There’s a dose of serendipitous humor here - the trackpoint has an infamous anatomical nickname, and this device seems to be reminding some commenters of a related activity.)
I wonder if they’ve explored trackballs? Conventional trackballs are operated with a single finger, usually the thumb, and proponents of trackballs claim it’s the equal of (or even superior to) a mouse, while touchpads and trackpoints do seem slightly limited compared to full-fledged mice. Controlling a trackball with your tongue instead of your thumb seems like it might be just as effective - maybe even more effective! This might be an avenue to make this device even more capable.
(Did I just compare the cunnilingus touchpad to the clit mouse, and then suggest adding “licking balls”? Goddamnit, lol)
I worked in accessible tech for the blind for a few years. It's awesome that these guys are doing something that could be genuinely useful to a swathe of society who really needs the help, and I do wish the space got more attention and money.
However, and I hope I'm wrong here, this is looking like another case of techies with a nifty looking device that will be "available soon" but, more importantly, already tried multiple times and either never caught on for practical reasons or doesn't present a real improvement over what's already out there (0 - for three such mouth trackpads).
I wish the investors and incubators that take these companies to market would do a much better job of coaching the founders on product/market research with target users so they can focus on truly novel solutions to genuine problem spaces that are ignored, but would make a real material improvement to quality if life.
As an example, in BlindTech it was the "smart cane", which is dumb for so many reasons and will never, ever catch on, but every 6 months or so... Here pops another start up with a seed of $0.1-1M to go to market! That money would be better spent just buying "dumb" canes at a volume discount and reselling them... Or, if you insist on developing a BlindTech solution, an app that could tell a user when they missed a button on their blouse or shirt (I never worked in the paraplegic space, so I'm not sure what other challenges the users face).
(0) https://www.disabled-world.com/assistivedevices/smart-mouthw...
https://spinalcordinjuryzone.com/info/17816/glassouse-worlds...
I'd like to see more comments from the target audience, at the moment the comment section is full of abled people who speculate on the needs and experiences of the target audience.
I'm able bodied, but years back suffered tremendous pain, that led to me having to lie down on my back and use the computer with a keyboard. And TBH even that was a pain. I got quite far under OSX tiger, and browse the web. Use a terminal etc. But at the time it led me into thinking about alternative interfaces. And the one thing that did catch my eye was 'dasher' for text entry. Which could be controlled with a simple pointer. And it did make me wonder how far you could go with a pointer based interface. I wasn't that fast while trying it out. But could construct sentences with a bit of effort.
https://www.inference.org.uk/dasher/
I've been thinking about it some more recently, as AI could assist with word completion, and augmenting it with some AI helpers could really improve things. And if the idea was extended.
Not wanting to sound like an able-ist snob, but interfacing with traditional computers with a keyboard is hard. And the interface is clumsy. Even touch devices and keyboards. My Mum could never use a computer, but she has worked out how to use a tablet and find videos on Youtube. I keep meaning to introduce her to voice input. As this would really benefit her.
Despite the huge tech leaps with smartphones and tablets and what not, I do feel there has been a huge regression in basic communication between people only exacerbated by the pandemic. There's knowledge available easily at people's fingertips and that's great, along with new channels of communication. But text based comms have retarded many people.
I realise this is intended for accessibility (for which is looks amazing), but I can also see this gaining widespread abled [0] use for things like gaming, and making mobile computing easier.
I can see myself pulling out the iPad on the train, and popping in the mouthpad to make navigation through Mails, Procreate, etc. easier.
[0] I tried "non-disabled" here, but that just seemed too clumsy. Am I missing an obvious term?
It seems pretty nifty.
I played around with Tobii eye-tracking hardware half a decade ago and was pretty amazed by its precision. I understand now it also has Glasses (vs. the model I tried, a tracker you put below your monitor usually). Marrying eye-tracking glasses with this mouthpad might be a winning combination: eye-tracking being the mouse to navigate in xy-space, and mouthpad for clicks.
Kudos to this group for putting out a finished product though, can't wait to see it used and iterated more out in the field.
Hello everyone, I am Corten, one of the co-founders of Augmental. I must say that it’s pretty amazing to see the MouthPad^ make some waves in this forum - thank you for your support and interest! As you can imagine, things have been busy on our end, but I’ll answer as many questions as I can.
Our main goal in designing the MouthPad^ is to provide universal digital accessibility for all, and to explore alternative input modalities for wearable hands-free interaction. The MouthPad^ is designed for anyone interested in using their tongue and mouth to control their personal devices, including computers, tablets and smartphones. In particular, we have worked closely with the disability community as this alternative input modality provides immediate value. We strongly believe that, in working with this community, we can build a better interface for everyone. As such, we envision a future in which anyone could have a MouthPad^!
My first impression was What the actual F**, but after watching the video I'm so blown away and impressed by how this can make people's life better. it's really exciting.
This sounds amazing for accessibility - for anyone more familiar than I am, is this true? Or are there major drawbacks?
What a great idea, I suffered from really debilitating rsi for a few years which affected my ability to use a keyboard and mouse. Knowing theres options out there really kept me hopeful.
I want to repeat this in USB2 version and use it for reading books. What kind of moving sensor might be a good choice? I want something like a stylophone with tongue-controlled five buttons (traditional joystick approach) plus tooth-controlled ctrl as a regular button. Buttons might be sensed like licking AG4 battery (the least 1.5V battery I ever seen) - but I do not understand an electronic design which is going to sense the tongue.
5 hours of active use with no ability to change the battery is a shit, let's be honest. It will be 4 hours after 100 full recharges, you know this process. Also Bluetooth HID devices will never be acceptable for shooters while non-Bluetooth tongue controller may be a pivot point in cyber-sport industry because of less lag between the brain and the HID.
There's also a tongue display unit, which consists of a matrix you place on the tongue and it outputs DC voltages on the tongue.
"The tongue display unit (TDU) for electrotactile spatiotemporal pattern presentation" - https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82729288.pdf
Also see - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/15/seeing-with-yo...
This seems like it could go well with AR glasses. Could even be extended to scan the mouth and recognize subvocalizations so you could talk to it without emitting sound or opening your mouth. I.e. a general purpose input device.
I've been wanting a wearable computer with a display integrated into glasses for years. A few years ago I got to try one that was on par with a Fitbit Versa, which would be perfect for me. (I never got one, and now it's not being made.)
Something like this would be perfect for a wearable computer. I personally want to try one, but I suspect the cost, and custom molding, are too high to "just try it out." I had a 3D scan of my mouth a few months ago for a bite guard, and it cost more than $700.
One thing that I want to point out is that the battery module next to the molars looks very uncomfortable.
I love this. Not just for restoring pointing capabilities to people without the use of their hands or dexterity, but for how unintrusive it is.
How awesome would it would be to use this to control a head-mounted display like Google Glass? Imagine if I could be out in public and operate a computer without it ever being obvious that I'm doing anything—without it ever getting in the way, without it ever distracting others.
Maybe we finally have a matching input method to go with those contact-lens HUDs.
And oh man, imagine the covert opportunities this would open up. Phone not allowed? That's OK, I have a computer in my head. My limbs can be full or even tied up and I'd still be able to compute. In a threatening situation where I can't move? That's fine, I can call for help or start a recording with just the use of my tongue, without putting myself in any additional danger.
Plus, tongue control lacks a lot of the issues that BCIs normally bring up, like the difficulty of inhibiting random electrical signals in my brain. With my tongue, there is no doubt that any movement I make was entirely intended. I can be faster and more efficient because I can perform actions with more certainty and less ambiguity.
I've joined the waitlist. Digits crossed that this doesn't end up costing tens of thousands of dollars, although there's no price listed so it probably will.
I love this. This is an awesome idea for accessibility and, presumably for ergonomics. I don't have any accessibility requirements that would warrant this, but it seems like it would be really convenient and ergonomic to be able to keep your hands on the keyboard all the time. I have three questions.
1. How do you clean this? As someone who uses a mouth guard at night, they can get pretty grody if you're not meticulous with them. Can you use denture cleaner or similar on the product?
2. Are you consulting with dentists on this? It seems like you're putting an invisalign analog in your mouth and that could be potentially harmful to one's bite. Presumably if you're using this as an accessibility device the pros outweigh the cons there, but I am curious.
3. How is tongue fatigue with this? Have you found people's tongues get tired after using it for a while or has that been a non-issue?
Again, love this idea and wish you all the success.
It's weird that the FAQ doesn't include how much it costs, including the 3D dental scan. You'd think that'd be a pretty obvious, frequently-asked question.
Anyway, aside from the obvious use-case of people with motor impairment in their hands, I could see this being useful to help with the "keep hands on keyboard" mindset that causes a lot of people to eschew the use of a mouse or trackpad. You can get the best of both worlds here, keeping your hands on the keyboard at all times, but still able to move the pointer around, even while simultaneously typing.
My initial reaction was that it would be hard to learn to use a device like this, but then I started moving my tongue around on the roof of my mouth, and realized there's a lot more dexterity and fine control there than I realized. Maybe even as much as a finger. After watching their "trailer", they mention they liken the tongue to the "eleventh finger", which actually seems like a pretty apt description to me.
I wonder what the tongue equivalent of RSI will be?
Jokes aside, it's really great to see innovations like this in human-machine interfaces.
I 100% would love to try this but seeing the FAQ and the "prioritizing close to San Francisco" does kinda suck. I know it's still a stupid early prototype but I wish I could register a "please let me override your location demands" because I'd be willing to travel/go through /some/ hoops.
This would also work great as a non-verbal, non-hands communication device. Currently research is being done in Subvocal Recognition [1] but it's very imprecise and can essentially only get to yes/no answers.
Imagine using this along with something like PalmOS Graffiti [2] + predictive text to send silent messages to people.
Really interesting! Some of my students made a mouse similar to this back in 2018. https://imgur.com/a/3irXJnD
Can someone with late stage ALS still control their tongue? I understand other muscle groups in their are non-functioning by then. However, is the tongue still controllable. If so, this is a clear game changer.
My father was disabled (MS) and at the clinic he was (for demented or otherwise thought impaired people at the end of their life), there was this elderly guy who had a wheel chair and controlled it with a poke (red!) which he controlled with his chin. It was fabulous to see. And a reminder of how addictive smoking/drugs is, cause he'd often go down to the smoking area with his wheelchair, pack of Caballero sitting on the small desk his wheelchair had. I'm not sure how he fired these up though.
I must say I thought this was some "become a 100X engineer, write code faster by using your tongue!!!" venture capital thing, until I saw the video.
Great work, but without having the context of the video it is weird.
I had an In-Mouth device idea that might have a potentially bigger market and easier to make if you need a pivot idea: https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/12kunua/explori...
as an accessory to make PCs more accessible this might be a revolutionizing device for people with disabilities - what a time to be alive!
Great idea. With every technology advancement that could become mainstream like this one, we seem to get closer and closer to the brain.
If this one is pretty inexpensive and can be bought without a doctor prescription, this would be a great improvement.
Out of curiosity, I had looked into getting a tongue-controlled device some years ago (to complement an eye tracking interface I had made for playing a specific game without keyboard/controller as a challenge), but had run into these two blockers.
Wonderful idea if it works out. I imagine that the scanning and molding of the device can benefit from existing Invisalign tech.
Such a simple, feasible, and useful idea. I'm surprised this hasn't been a thing for a decade already.
> Initial 3D intraoral dental scan
> Custom-designed MouthPad^ device
This seems expensive. I hope the future brings a more general version.
This is very cool. IIRC, in William Gibson's The Peripheral, characters in the future timeline would control their "phones" with their tongues just like this. I believe they had implants on the roof of their mouths instead of a prosthetic, but basically the same concept.
Do you think it may have some… adult applications?
(cue Mitchell & Webb's sketch about armored scorpion of death)
Wow. That is quite innovative. The advertised version is the equivalent of trackpad. I am wondering if the back of the teeth, upper jaw and lower jaw forming two rows, could somehow be mapped to keys to enable typing and the equivalent of swiftkey.
I think this is quite cool! Even for abled people, I can use a bluetooth trackpad and doing other things with both hands. And I think it's a good way to interact with TV.
However, for me it seems that I can't eat things when wearing it, or it can be hard to clean.
"it's a mouthpad" "you mean mousepad??" "no, MOUTHpad"
My guess is this w8list and the custom devices are a huge cashcow for them. I bet they could just mass produce them in a soft form that may not be perfectly fit every mouth but fit well enough to be used.
What do these things coast? I bet its a fortune.
Wonder if using this for a few years would change your accent lol.
Great idea! Does anyone know what the current state of brainwave navigation is? I saw a flurry of investment in new startups over the last 5 years but it's all gone a bit quiet
Are there any versions of something like this for basic media controls?: play/pause, next/previous, etc. I've always wanted one for biking.
I guess you can't talk while it is in.
Wonderful accessibility aside, that's a brilliant name. It's just fun to say.
This could do wonders for people that can't use their limbs to control devices.
knew a few guys working on an eye tracking mouse (clicking was still manual)
pretty cool
What would be best for (double-)clicking? Tongue? Or by biting?
Would love to see the base of products like this open sourced.
Wow!!!! Amazing!! So usefull, not only as assistivetech!!
Can't wait to see what Kyle Machulis does with this!
I wonder if Hans Niemann is familiar with this tech.
Nice idea! Is it using nRF52832 or smth similar?
It's nice to see their marketing is sex-positive at a time when it seems like the mainstream Internet is becoming more and more prudish.
Are the batteries easily digested?
cunnilingus simulator 0_0
Wow!
A lot of people - especially people with impairments whom it would help a lot if they know about it - are unaware of the fantastic pointer-accessibility stuff that's built into MacOS:
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/move-the-pointer-us...
You can control the pointer with head movements, and click with things like blinks and smiles. All built into the OS, no 3rd party software.