The many many ways to push a button

A program or product which has voice recognition or virtual reality interfaces can appear really complex on the surface. However if you think about it, these advanced technologies are just fancier versions of a mouse or keyboard. Even though an input technology itself may be advanced the role it is serving is as simple and as old as the keyboard itself; receiving data and command inputs from a user.

As computers and their uses have evolved over the last few decades our need for improved devices for interaction with them has also increased. We now find ourselves with a marketplace overflowing with various input devices. Just walk down the keyboard/mouse aisle at your local computer shop to find a mind numbing array of products stuffing the shelves.

A good place to see custom designed command input in action is right at your local arcade. Nearly every single gaming machine has a user interface which is custom designed for the user to interact with it's specific game. From the simple panel of joystick and buttons to extremely advanced wrap around simulators. Joysticks, roller balls, steering wheels, mock guns, foot pedals, floor pads, and fighter jet cockpits are the devices used in the world of gaming. If you take a

Those of us in the robotics development field need to view command input as a conscious choice of design. There are thousands of colleges worldwide right now making a lot of money teaching courses on just this very thing. ubiquitous computing, pervasive computing, computer human interface (CHI), and other class titles are all teaching varieties of the same theme. "How do we design a user interface that is intuitive and works well?"