Gyration
Go 2.4 Series Wireless Optical Mouse
On The Desk Or In The Air
Gyration, Inc. is a leading provider of advanced hardware and software solutions for the business communication, home entertainment and computing market segments. The company has developed and patented unique gyroscopic technology by which an inertial sensor detects natural hand motions to move a cursor or graphic intuitively on a television screen or monitor. IDE has provided Gyration with its unique blend of industrial design and mechanical product development services for four generations of innovative "in-air" pointing devices spanning the past 15 years. In 2004 IDE was retained by Gyration to design the GO 2.4 Series Wireless Optical Mouse.
The GO 2.4 was designed to perform comfortably and intuitively as a traditional desktop mouse
and as a far more flexible and free "in-air" input device. IDE's industrial designers began by
researching and sketching shapes that would address the dynamic ergonomic needs inherent in this unique product.
Designed For Range and Mobility
One of the prime benefits of using the GO 2.4 is the fact that it frees the user to be mobile and
roam up to 30 feet from his or her computer, with no line-of-sight limitations. The upper surfaces of
the mouse needed to be developed for traditional desktop computer navigation needs, whereas the
lower surfaces needed to fit the palm comfortably and enhance the user's in-air experience,
translating its motions through space into very intuitive on screen movements.
Based on discussions and feedback on the initial sketches, these ideas were then sculpted into clay
(and eventually foam)models that could be evaluated in the real world for comfort, usability, and aesthetics.
Detailing Completes The Package
Once the overall form factor was determined, IDE's designers and engineers
began identifying and solving the unique usability, and layout issues inherent in the GO 2.4. The GO 2.4 needed
to have the computer industry's classic de facto right and left buttons, including a scroll wheel functionong as a
third button. The forward sloping form of these buttons was geared to the dual use nature of the mouse.
When the user holds the mouse in-air the hand slides back on the mouse, requiring the form of the buttons
to extend back, allowing the users thumb to properly activate the two buttons as needed and navigate the
on-screen interface. The three function buttons on the top surface, behind the two mouse button and scroll
wheel, are contoured and scaled mainly to create a tactile interface so that the user needn't look at the
buttons to make use of them, especially in low light environments.
The three buttons are needed for the user to create customizeable programmable macros that assist in
carrying out several tasks when away from the computer, such as during presentations or while navigating
the interface of a Home Theatre PC easily.
IDE also designed the thin and elegant charging cradle For the GO 2.4 to compliment the mouse in both form and function.
