NaturalPoint’s SmartNav 4 is now available for Mac OS X users. This head-controlled mouse pointer uses a camera which sits on top of the monitor and a reflective dot to track movement. Although the reflective dot would usually be placed on the head it can be used on any body part which is within camera range and will then track movement of that body part. This is from the most recent SmartNav newsletter:
NaturalPoint has partnered with RJ Cooper and Associates to provide Macintosh compatible software for both SmartNav 4 EG and AT. Mac users can now experience SmartNav 4′s improved tracking performance, light filtering and sleek aluminum hardware design. Please contact our Mac partner for further details.
I was able to briefly trial a SmartNav recently and was very pleased with it. I hope to have a chance to try one for a much longer period as soon as possible.
- Ricky Buchanan
I have a question. You know the reflective dots that come with smartnav? Well I recently saw on you tube a video of these working on a windows based communication aid called a liberator,(it has a built in webcam also).
My question is.. if these dots can be made to work with the liberator as well as the smartnav, could they also be made to work with the iSight camera’s in iMac’s and Macbooks?
If you want to see them in action on the other machine the link is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnrjVrCwKOk
Any ideas if it maybe possible in future? Be great combined with the new tablet pc macbook if all needed to buy was the reflective dots
In theory they could be made to work – something like iNavigator might work better if it used them. You could email Forrest the iNavigator guy about it. There’s nothing particularly magic about the silver dots except that the ones that SmartNav and HeadMouse Extreme use reflect IR light especially well. But it would possibly useful for something more like iNavigator which uses visible light too.
I have late onset Cerebellar Ataxia (started in early thirties). It mainly affects my legs, speech and fine motor co-ordination.
I am interested in Headmouse Extreme or SmartNav4 and wondering if anyone with experience of any one of these can tell me how easy they are to use and how much head/neck movement and strength in these muscles they require to work?
Does it get tiring and give you alot of neck pain if for example you have lot of text to write via an on-screen keyboard?
What if you have a bigger screen? I have 24″ screen on my iMac, is it going to take a lot bigger movements to get from one end of screen to other?
Is it easy to adjust how much it moves cursor for finer detailed work ie small on-screen keyboard or photo/video editing etc?
I’m just wondering if I would find it any easier to use on-screen keyboard with headmouse than joystick when alot of smaller repetitive movements are needed?
Thanks
Kati