Look, no hands • Hacker News Board

Re: Look, no hands

#41

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:10 AM UTC

yarou wrote: post #25

bbarn wrote: post #5

Only one mention of a doctor, once in the whole page, and he says to give it a rest and she'll be ok. Then she says she spends 50% of the time using her hands normally? No mention of further deterioration, or further attempts to figure out the problem? It seems like it's more important to her to say "look I am clever" than actually solve the problem here.

I think you've missed the point entirely. This article sheds light on alternative ways of human input for computing devices. It also presents an innovative, if not slightly impractical solution to a problem the author faced. This could potentially open up new ways of interacting with computing devices.

[deleted]

Re: Look, no hands

#42

Post by bob917 » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:11 AM UTC

I once met the guy with no legs from the subway scene in the movie Kids. "I have no legs...I have no legs".

Re: Look, no hands

#43

Post by meowface » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:15 AM UTC

meepmorp wrote: post #37

Just reading the responses here - am I the only person who has zero problem using a trackpad and keyboard with my hands for >=8 hours a day? Maybe it's that I'm not a designer and so the precision of my motions isn't such that I'd experience problems like this. I think the only problem I've ever had was back when I tried using a Microsoft Natural keyboard, and my hands were sore after an hour. Also, good for her, fin…

I use my hands and wrists a whole lot, and regularly type upward of 140 WPM, but I've never experienced any RSI. I imagine genetics plays a fairly big role.

Re: Look, no hands

#44

Post by melling » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:17 AM UTC

jeremiep wrote: post #31

arjie wrote: post #17

The elasticity of the brain is incredibly impressive. Very neat solution. My parents are surgeons, and I know they worry at least a little bit about the safety of their hands. While my hands are definitely very important to my being able to work I know I don't worry as much as they do. That's funny, because for the most part I think about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as a career-ending condition. I recently suffered some a…

To me the most important factor is how relaxed your muscles are when working. That is, even while frantically typing on my keyboard my fingers spend most of their time resting. It's very easy to keep your muscle contracted the entire time and that's where the danger is. This is something I learned from my music teachers. I would get nervous while playing and my muscles would get all stiff leading to missed notes and…

RSI can be caused by many things, and it can originate far from the pain. There doesn't seem to be one magical fix. I've been keeping Emacs org notes on RSI and I publish them here: http://thespanishsite.com/public_html/org/ergo/rsi.html

Re: Look, no hands

#45

Post by sukilot » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:34 AM UTC

Most people tend to get RSI when they first he very active in computer work,and after a year or so they find a healthy posture and their hands strengthen and it isn't an issue.

This article seems like a gimmick by someone who wants to be special instead of using perfectly effective solutions. Or it is a joke.

Re: Look, no hands

#46

Post by johnny99 » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:36 AM UTC

Dominic Wilcox created something similar to this in 2011, I think as a satiric art project. It looks like a plague doctor's mask: http://dominicwilcox.com/portfolio/finger-nose-stylus/

To see a proper implementation, which allows someone to work at a high level, is awesome.

Re: Look, no hands

#47

Post by melling » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:43 AM UTC

sukilot wrote: post #45

Most people tend to get RSI when they first he very active in computer work,and after a year or so they find a healthy posture and their hands strengthen and it isn't an issue. This article seems like a gimmick by someone who wants to be special instead of using perfectly effective solutions. Or it is a joke.

Do you have any references to back up this statement? From everything that I've read, it'e incorrect. Take these well-known programmers: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_hand_pain_celebrity.html

Re: Look, no hands

#48

Post by unclebucknasty » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:45 AM UTC

_ZeD_ wrote: post #23

Sincerely... all I can think about is not that she found a good solution to her problem, but the fact that she "achieved the same level of accuracy" (and I suppose speed). This is not something about her capabilities, but about the limitation of current input devices regarding our hands. This is the proof that using a touch pad with your nose is not worse that using it with your hand. There is something wrong in this…

>This is not something about her capabilities, but about the limitation of current input devices regarding our hands.

I think it's more a story about our adaptability in general.

Many years ago, I worked with a developer who happened to be blind. While coding, he used an audio screen reader. If you've ever heard one, you know that they can be set to read incredibly fast, such that it sounds like absolute gibberish to the untrained ear.

So, whereas I couldn't even discern the words/characters being read, it made absolute sense to him. Much as I was amazed by it, I also know that he didn't start there. Years of practice, finding shortcuts, etc. made it as much second nature to him as reading code on the monitor was for me.

Of course, it also didn't hurt that he was brilliant.

Re: Look, no hands

#49

Post by melling » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:48 AM UTC

She mentions being excited about the Leap Motion. That's not very accurate so she probably had to give up. There is better hand tracking software under development. This company's Kickstarter project got canceled when Oculus bought them: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nimblevr/nimble-sense-b...

And Control VR uses gloves but might prove to be very accurate: http://controlvr.com

The VR headsets are driving the development of this technology.

Re: Look, no hands

#50

Post by Kluny » Sun, Dec 28, 2014, 7:49 AM UTC

Great story, and great reminder not to let minor pains progress to the point where they cripple you. I say this as someone whose right thumb is in a brace due to deQuervain's tendosynovitis, brought on by banging too hard on spacebars.