Computing with Foot Mouse

As Hollywood can make penguins tap dance, a new invention called Footime™ foot mouse developed by Bili Inc (www.bilila.com) can make you do almost the same for different reason.

Who needs that? You may be one of the lucky ones having no problem with computer input devices yet, but there are many people who are suffering from computer related stress called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or, broadly, Repetitive Strain Injury caused by heavy or improper use of computer mouse, keyboard or other input devices. The weak, numb or piercing feeling in hands, wrists or arms hurts people’s body, mood and work. In some extreme cases, the pain is so unbearable that sufferers are awakened by it in the middle of night and cannot sleep again.

According to National Center for Health Statistics, every year more than 850,000 new problem visits are made to physicians because of carpal tunnel syndrome, which results in the highest median number of days of work loss (30 days) among all major work-related injury or illness categories. The reality is that most of us can not live or work without computer and Internet now.

People at Bili Inc felt the pain and have tackled the problem in a new approach: tap the foot potential - the untapped human resource. A foot driven mouse seems like a logic solution. This two-part device has a slipper-shaped pointer controlled by one foot and a pedal (handled by the other foot) with mouse click buttons (including a double click button), a scroll roller and definable buttons. It helps ease or prevent hand pain by offload hand work and speed up computer workflow with its programmable buttons, which replaces slow and awkward multi-finger entry of shortcut with one-step foot control. Even if you have no problem of stress, this gear can make you more productive. It simply gives you a hand. Other useful applications include multitasking and preventing contamination through hands or gloves in lab.

Physically-challenged people with upper limb difficulties should find Footime™ foot mouse especially useful. Working in conjunction with on-screen keyboard, this mouse even enables users to type by foot. (Data from Digest of Data on Person with Disabilities indicates that over 3 million people in the USA have a disability in their hands and/or forearms.)

Computer and Internet have brought us great benefits and fun, but at the same time the growing reliance on them has caused unpleasant pains to users all over the world everyday. Human’s vulnerable hands may not be designed for frequent daily computing or maybe they can not evolve fast enough to catch up with the constant changing technology (if you believe in Darwin’s Theory).

Unfortunately, hand input is still today’s dominate way of communication between human and computer. Therefore, it makes sense to find an alternative way of input and put powerful feet to work. Footime™ foot mouse combines regular mouse, part of keyboard and foot control. It’s a smart mouse (programmable). A mouse with brain.

Some may wonder: Can feet really handle it? Believe it or not, feet are smarter than many people think. For example, car drivers can skillfully control car pedals for gas, break and clutch with feet without even looking at them. Foot input for computing and online surfing is a feasible solution. As Bili Inc’s slogan goes, “Trust your feel, trust your feet.”

So, next time when you get pain in hands or arms and you can’t stop your computer work, let your happy feet do some tap dancing under the table. No one will see it or laugh at you. Happy tapping!