Dr. Bill
Junkin
Erskine
Professor Bill Junkin Invents a "Magic
Mouse"
Imagine a wireless computer mouse that can be worn
like a ring, allowing the cursor to be moved from
anywhere in the room. Erskine College physics
professor (and inventor) Bill Junkin has done more
than just imagine the possibilities of a "magic
mouse." He has built one.
This is not uncommon for Junkin, the 1995 South
Carolina Governor's Professor of the Year, who was
called by former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley,
"One of the finest, most innovative educators in
South Carolina."
Junkin's genius is that he knows no obstacle. At
Erskine, when he needs something he can't buy, he
builds it. He constantly pushes computer technology
to the limit, and when he needs more to teach better,
he figures out a way to extend those limits.
His mentoring networked classrooms developed at
Erskine have been adopted by every discipline at the
institution, studied and even copied by other
institutions of higher learning as well as by
corporations.
As significant as the Junkin breakthroughs have
been, he continues his quest to facilitate better
learning, and seems uninterested in personal acclaim
or monetary rewards.
He does, however, think that the magic mouse may
be his most marketable idea yet.
"Imagine freeing up space on the desktop and
not having to worry about dust, dirt and cat hair
that can get inside the rolling ball of a
mouse," he said. And to him, the basis of the
idea is that simple.
What he imagines is a battery-powered ring that,
through the use of hand motions from anywhere in the
room, would control the cursor on the screen and
forever rid the world of computer mice.
The idea is so hot that Junkin has already
received a patent for it, which he turned over to
Erskine College. When asked about the patent, the
soft-spoken Junkin reveals a tinge of excitement in
his voice when he says, "I've never had a patent
before. This is kind of exciting for me. I thought
Thomas Edison and those folks were in another world,
but I think this is something with some usefulness
that could help make life better for all of us."
Step inside Junkin's mind for a moment, while he
quietly pauses before answering the next question. On
the outside, his habitual hesitation before speaking
and thoughtful stare, focused down somewhere, usually
at his shoes, hide the roaring thinking wheels inside
that, more times than not, produce something
ingenious.
"This could help society in general,"
Junkin says flatly, before revealing, in a single
breath: "I expect the first place it will catch
on will be in the business world, where people use
projectors to show computer screens for everyone in
the conference room to see, which is the same use I
see in the educational arena as more and more
classrooms are being equipped with projection
systems, where a variety of information from
Powerpoint to internet sites to CD pictures from art
museums are used (I like the idea of be able to
present to my class and concentrate on my students
rather than being tied down to a desk where my
computer is, which should allow for an increase in
teaching and enhance the whole learning process).
"Unfortunately one of the last places it will
probably be adopted is for people with
disabilities," Junkin continued. "Even if
they can't access a computer keyboard, if they have
any part of their body they can move in a controlled
fashion, like their big toe or the orientation of
their head, a magic mouse can be defined for that
part of the body and allow them to control computers
without the need to use a conventional mouse.
"Eventually, the biggest use in the future
will be, with the distinction between the internet
and commercial TV vanishing, your home TV, which will
provide internet access and TV programs, which will
become internet interactive. At that point a magic
mouse could be incorporated into your TV remote which
will then allow you to change channels and surf the
internet from the comfort of your armchair in front
of your big screen TV-slash-monitor."
Still with us? He's not done: "Think about
video games – if you are the boxer, how your
hand moves is how the fighter on the screen moves his
hands. Oh, the video game industry seems to be ripe
for this, not to mention the world of exercise
videos.
"And it may have other applications. Like
controlling your lawnmower from the hammock, or your
vacuum from the rocking chair. It may have
applications in traffic control to detect relative
motion between cars to tell you if you are coming up
on someone too fast..."
Get the picture? Junkin gets cut off here, but it
doesn't dim the sparkle magnified by his bespectacled
eyes.
Junkin's idea originated from his constant use of
projected computer screens during his classroom
lectures. "I wanted to be able to move the
cursor while I was talking to the class without
having to return to my desk," Junkin said.
"They have devices that allow you to move the
mouse remotely, but they weren't working well for
me."
Junkin's construction emits an ultrasonic sound
that is picked up by a microphone off to one side of
the computer. "If you move your hand toward the
mike or away from the mike, the electronics can
tell," Junkin said. "The mike controls the
electronics, which makes the cursor on the screen
move with your hand."
He first made a simple prototype to see if it
would work. "I was moving the mouse controller
over a range of 6-7 feet and making the cursor on the
screen move," Junkin said. "There is
already an invention using ultrasonic sound available
that was designed to locate objects. We have been
using this device in the physics lab (called a Sonic
Ranger) to determine how far away an object is.
"It works on the same principal that a bat
uses to navigate," Junkin said. "Both of us
learned from bats."
He continued, "The Sonic Ranger has the
ability to find the position of objects, but my
invention doesn't know the position of your mouse,
all it knows is whether your mouse is moving or not.
I realized that was exactly the characteristic needed
to control the mouse on your computer, because you
don't care where the mouse is located when you want
to move the cursor on your computer, all you care
about is if it is moving or not. "
Junkin's tinkering with the magic mouse began
during his Christmas break, and he says he still
doesn't have a model that works well enough to use.
The design, however, is sound, and the kinks could be
worked out in the manufacturing process.
"I have to find someone who will manufacture
it," Junkin said. "Getting a patent for it
was the first step toward finding someone to
manufacture it. That could take one year to never,
depending on the companies having interest."
Erskine graduate and attorney Neil Jones of the
Greenville law firm Nelson Mullins, Class of 1985,
helped Junkin through the patent process. Junkin
said, "Neil and I agreed that doing this for
Erskine might provide a significant benefit to the
college. He donated his time and I donated the patent
to Erskine."
The cost for filing the patent was covered by an
anonymous donor.
Junkin's passion is teaching, and he admits he has
neither the expertise nor the desire to set up a
company to manufacture the magic mouse. "But I
think we need millions of them out there in the
world."
