BT researchers have developed a device for notebook PCs that removes the need for a keyboard or a mouse.

The Nintendo Wii style solution called BT Balance works by enabling the user to manipulate menus and applications simply by moving or tilting their machine.

The small, specially designed adaptor has movement sensors around an accelerometer chip, which works in much the same way as the balance system in the human ear.

The adaptor, which can be plugged into any standard laptop or tablet PC, ‘talks’ to software downloaded to the laptop which translates the motion and rotation into actions on the user’s computer screen.

The software can be adapted so that users can move a cursor around the screen or even turn the pages of a virtual manual or book just by tilting or moving their machine.

Adam Oliver, head of age and disability research who helped develop the concept, said: “The technology has obvious implications for those who are disabled or elderly and have difficulty using a fiddly laptop keyboard or mouse.

“We also wanted to create an interface that was simple and intuitive. Standard ways of controlling PC applications can be too complicated, so we decided to use the analogy of a book to work with.

“What we ended up with gives you the same look and feel of picking up a book and reading it but in a 3D digital format.”

Oliver added: “We quickly realised that it could have other commercial applications such as someone needing to use their laptop in conditions where trying to type or manipulate a tiny keyboard is tricky or where they are unable to use both hands, such as an engineer or technician working in the field needing to navigate quickly round maps or diagrams, or even someone just using their laptop on a crowded train.

“The software is extremely adaptable and can be used in all sorts of ways for example, it could be programmed in so that a user could make or connect an incoming internet voice call or to access digital pictures simply by tilting and tipping the computer.”

The technology is currently being developed and field tested at the company’s research and venturing labs at Adastral Park in Ipswich.

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