Tag Archives: ergonomic mouse

Is This The Most Ergonomic Mouse Ever Designed Or Just Another Ambitious Idea?

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Memory foam mattresses have continuously been pitched as the most ergonomic surfaces to sleep on. The way they work is by being a standard shape, but contouring to your body when you lie down on them, adapting exactly to your profile. It’s a brilliant example of a cookie-cutter product that is truly ergonomic for almost everyone. Somehow consumer tech didn’t get the memo on this…

Last week I covered this ‘hideous but comfortable’ ergonomic mouse, designed using play dough and 3D printing. The problem with such a mouse is that it took ergonomics too seriously, and still resorted to a rigid 3D printed outer shell. But what if you just applied memory-foam-style ergonomics to consumer tech? What if you could make a mouse that just fits to the shape of your hand rather than the other way around? This Red-Dot Award-winning ergonomic mouse proposes something pretty clever – a computer peripheral with an inflatable body that you can ‘adjust’ to the shape of your palm. Two cushions, both independently adjustable, give you a mouse that’s made for YOU, not a mouse that touts ergonomics but may or may not work for your hand shape, wrist flexibility, or finger size.

Designer: iRest Health Science and Technology Co., Ltd.

The mouse, designed by iRest Health Science and Technology, is just a concept for now, but it does make a fairly radical proposal that a lot of companies could consider for breaking the mold on ergonomic devices. The mouse looks standard at first, but the palm rest features two air-filled cushions that can be adjusted via a smartphone app. Increase or decrease their size through the app, and the shape of the mouse inherently changes, fitting your palm just the way you need it. The result is a mouse that’s calibrated to YOUR hand.

Admittedly, the idea is fabulous but the execution is a little janky. This mouse would effectively need air pumps to intake or release the air, which would result in a severe drain on batteries while complicating the build. The immediate solution is to not use air at all, but rely on something more convenient. In-ear monitors rely on silicone gel implants for a bespoke fit, but those are administered by medical professionals. However, imagine a mouse with a silicone outer shell that can be molded to your hand. Or perhaps a series of mechanical parts that can be adjusted to shape the mouse based on palm height, etc – sort of like how you adjust parts on an ergonomic chair.

For now, this is just a concept, but it proposes a fairly new idea as far as ergonomic tech is considered. For too long, we’ve seen ergonomic tech that is painstakingly designed for the 95th percentile, but seldom is as comfortable as something that is truly tailor-made FOR you. We’ve covered inflatable mice before, funnily enough, and those concepts were manually inflated, which also sounds like a fairly good option. I wouldn’t mind someone actually building a prototype!

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World’s Comfiest Mouse looks legitimately ugly… but it somehow works

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I remember being in the third year of design college when I was introduced to this massive book titled “Indian Anthropometric Dimensions.” For the uninitiated, this book contained practically all the dimensions of the average (and non-average) Indian person, male and female, old and young. The purpose of such a book was to understand ergonomics numerically, rather than visually. And for designers, this meant adding the ultimate constraint to our wild designs… so humans could actually use them.

This YouTuber’s take on an ergonomic mouse is the antithesis of everything I was taught. The problem is, however, it works! See, designers have to balance this ergonomic approach with actual aesthetics. That’s why ergonomic mice actually look stylish, rather than being shaped exactly like the inverse of your hand. It’s why gun grips look the way they do; why bike seats, or car seats have an abstract-ness to them, and don’t actually have your individual buttocks molded into their designs. The world’s comfiest mouse works, but at a rather painful aesthetic cost!

Designer: Play Conveyor

Play Conveyor’s design process ignites a pretty strong debate between aesthetics and comfort. The Apple Magic Mouse, for example, is a prime example of the former completely ignoring the latter… and almost every mouse (even the ergonomic ones) aim at trying to achieve a balance between the two. Play Conveyor’s experiment swings the pendulum the absolute opposite way – what if a mouse was hideous as sin, but legitimately comfortable?

The process starts fairly simply. Play Context first ripped apart a wired mouse to see what the inner components looked like. He then 3D printed a plastic chassis on which he added play dough, filling in all the negative space created by his hand. This basically turned the mouse into a direct inversion of his hand, creating something that quite literally fit like a glove. After the play dough model was made, he scanned it, refined it, and printed it. What we see here is pure anthropometrics at work – no design, no aesthetic study, nothing.

What’s interesting is how accessible the whole process has become. A decade ago, this would’ve required industrial equipment, professional 3D scanners, and a hefty budget. Now it’s an iPhone, a 3D printer that costs less than a decent laptop, and some squishy molding compound. The democratization of manufacturing tools means anyone can now ask the question: what if products were designed for me, specifically me, and nobody else? It’s selfish design in the best possible way.

The first iteration (top left) was way too sharp, with jagged edges left behind either during the molding process or the scanning process. Play Context merely softened the edges down to create something that looks like, well, the Millennium Falcon covered in goo. Cutouts was added for left and right clicks, but soon ditched for actual hinged buttons, along with a central groove for the scroll wheel.

The final result is, well, a mouse that’s too ugly to be seen in the outdoors. It’s also a mouse that uniquely ONLY fits the ergonomic grip of one user. The justification for this can be two-fold: First, just accepting that there’s no way a company would be able to mass-produce this. People have different grips, different hand sizes, and even usage frequencies. That’s why companies like Logitech or Razer make mice the way they do, blending ergonomics with a healthy dose of aesthetics to have peripherals that actually look good while functioning flawlessly. The second justification, however, is for more edge-cases. Maybe a mouse designed for someone with Parkinsons, or with a genuine handicap or special need. We’ve seen special-needs gaming controllers from Sony for the PlayStation and Microsoft for the Xbox, but they’re mass-produced too. What if we could somehow build outer bodies of gadgets to suit our anthropometric needs? As Play Context demonstrates, the process is fairly easy, requiring only a 3D printer as a specialized equipment. All you need is a fair bit of free will, determination, and play dough!

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Ergonomic mouse concept oddly looks like a familiar home appliance

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Computer mice have been around for decades, and despite their form making no objective sense, they remain the most basic and most common pointing device that we now use intuitively. The core design of the mouse hasn’t changed significantly since its inception, which unfortunately means they’re still one of the biggest causes of repetitive strain injury or RSI for many people. Ergonomic mice are starting to gain traction, particularly the vertically oriented designs that promise a more natural and comfortable grip for your hand. This device concept builds on that same premise, but the execution is a bit puzzling considering how it looks less like a mouse and more like a miniature clothes iron.

Designer: Pranav Kuber

The rationale behind vertical mice is that the normal orientation of human hands has the palms facing inward rather than downward. With a regular mouse, users are forced to keep their hands at an unnatural angle, whether or not they’re moving the mouse at that moment. Of course, a vertical mouse would still need to provide the basic functions of a conventional mouse, which includes left and right buttons as well as a scroll wheel.

At first glance, the Ergo ergonomic mouse concept is just like any other vertical mouse now available for purchase, but examining its form and silhouette generates a slightly different image. The top plane’s wide surface tapers sharply toward the front, while the wide middle section looks rectangular when viewed from above. If not for the actual bottom of the mouse, which merges two vertical sides like the keel of a ship, the Ergo looks almost like a clothes iron, albeit one without a handle to grip.

Aside from the peculiar shape, the mouse design also raises a few other questions. The buttons on the outer or right side are clearly marked, but they don’t look like buttons you can physically click at first glance. The position of the mouse wheel on the opposite side is even more puzzling, as it will require a lot of swinging movement from the thumb that could actually put more strain on its joint. The rather wide rear might also make it harder to grasp the mouse, potentially resulting in more discomfort in the long run.

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Ergonomic mouse concept gives left-handed users the comfort they deserve

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The vast majority of computer products are designed to favor the biggest groups of users, sometimes to the exclusion of the minority. We’re not speaking about accessibility for persons with physical disabilities, but that is especially true for them as well. Even just the common keyboard and mouse are designed with the presumption that they will be used by right-handed people. And while ambidextrous mice do exist, those tend to sacrifice comfort for the sake of a symmetrical design. That doesn’t have to be the case, as this concept design tries to prove, promising both comfort as well as proficiency, regardless of which hand you hold it with.

Designer: Sameeraj Dronamraju

There has been an increasing awareness and demand for ergonomic mice, sadly due to the equally rising cases of computer-related injuries. But while there are plenty of ergonomic designs now available, most of them only cater to right-handed users. You’d be lucky if the manufacturer produced a left-handed design, but most don’t because of the costs involved in another product with only a few minor differences.

The proper solution would be to mix ergonomics and symmetry to create a mouse that is comfortable to hold for both kinds of people. Vertrous, a portmanteau of “vertical” and “ambidextrous,” takes its cue primarily from the plethora of ergonomic mice now in existence, most of which adopt a vertical design that attempts to reduce the strain placed on the wrist by offering a more natural grip. But rather than have your hand holding it sideways, you almost grip it like a claw, with your index and middle fingers still resting on top.

At the same time, the mouse’s shape is more or less equally balanced on both sides. Great care is taken to ensure that textured areas are found on both sides, so no one hand has the advantage over the other. That said, there are some features that can really be found in only one place, like the power button, but that’s really a minor detail that has no significant impact on the use of the mouse itself.

While Vertrous does present an interesting solution, there are still some considerations left unanswered by the design. For example, gripping the mouse like a claw could actually end up being more uncomfortable and strenuous than a regular mouse. The symmetrical design also leaves out features like extra buttons that would normally be found only on one side, an absence that many power users will feel acutely. These aren’t flaws per se but more like points for further improvement, paving the road for the day that we finally land on a standard ergonomic mouse design that will really leave no one out, whichever hand they prefer to use.

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This curved vertical ergonomic mouse helps lessen fatigue on your hand

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As someone who has not used a mouse since I switched to Mac years ago, the idea of mouse fatigue is foreign to me. But I do know a lot of people who spend more than half of their day in front of the screen and with a mouse to guide them most of the time and they testify that it can take a toll on your hand and fingers. There are several ergonomic options out there but this one from Protoarc seems to be unique and even more ergonomic than the usual ones out there.

Designer: Protoarc

The EM11 RGB Wireless Ergonomic Vertical Mouse lets you have a more relaxed position when using the device, especially if you’ll be using it for long periods. The ergonomics vertical grip gives you a more natural position for your hand and will also supposedly give you fatigue resistance because of the way you use it and the way it’s designed. It should be able to reduce the strain on your arm, wrist, and hand and also is more convenient with its back and forward thumb buttons.

If you’re using multiple devices, the mouse is able to switch connection mode through low bluetooth with up to 3 devices and with three different available DPI for high precision control. And if you prefer something a bit more stable, you can also connect it to your computer through a USB receiver. It also has four different RGB light modes to match your mood while working or playing: neon, monochromatic, streamer, breathing. The battery life is also pretty impressive as it can last up to 90 days on a single charge.

With a lot of people staying in front of screens more hours every day, whether for work or for play, it’s really important to have ergonomic devices like these so we lessen the fatigue on our body. If I was still using a mouse, I would probably use something like this as the design seems more natural than your usual mouse devices.

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