The Puyocon wants to be for PCs what the Wiimote became for game consoles: An alternative input interface that doesn’t require pressing buttons but arm movements from users in order to control what’s going on on the screen. The small device is the brainchild of the so-called Entertainment Computing Laboratory [JP] at Japan’s Tsukuba University.

The Puyocon is a ball-shaped, soft and wireless controller that users can roll, throw, squeeze or move with both hands in order to trigger an action on the screen (for example, moving a cursor around). It features a total of 14 pressure sensors, a three-way acceleration sensor and Bluetooth.

The Puyocon responds to the force it’s being squeezed with or the impact a throw has on it. The idea behind the concept is to provide certain users, for example children, with an intuitive, easy-to-use input interface.

This video shows how the Puyocon works (courtesy of Diginfonews in Tokyo):

Here’s another video:
http://blip.tv/play/hMQ5gbz3WQI%2Em4v