Microsoft's Develops Feet Interface

Using feet to check mail was a brainchild of a Microsoft Corporation research project exploring alternative ways of interacting with a computer. The researchers displayed a prototype software program that enables people to sort email and digital photos by stomping and moving their feet using a floor pad from the popular "Dance, Dance Revolution" game.

The “Step User Interface” is bound to be one of the most eye-catching projects on display at the annual Microsoft Research TechFest, an internal event on the company’s Redmond campus.

Researchers from the Step User Interface Project Group demonstrated the StepMail and StepPhoto programs at a news conference prior to the TechFest. The programs were described as a supplement to the traditional tools like keyboard and mouse to provide a break and reduce the  chances of repetitive stress syndrome, rather than as replacements for them.  

“Ooo, this looks like spam!” said Brian Meyers, one of the Microsoft researchers on the project, executing a double-footed delete with considerably more enthusiasm than typically associated with unwanted email.

Besides deleting spam, Meyers could also scroll through messages and open them to view them on a large screen in front. Using a double-footed move he could flag an email for written follow-up when he got back to a desk.

According to A.J. Brush, a researcher involved in the project, the research group has just begun exploring ways to use feet as an interface. It is quite possible that one day spam could be literally kicked away by strapping an accelerometer to one’s leg.

It is too soon to expect the product at the local computer store, but the odds are high for the general idea to make its way into Microsoft products.

Source: Microsoft Research