Place a standard USB webcam on or near the monitor so it is pointing at you as if for video conferencing (or use a built-in webcam). Start up Camera Mouse. Your moving image will appear in the Camera Mouse window. Use the mouse to click on a feature on your face to track. Some unique area of the face. We usually use the inside edge of an eyebrow or eye or the area between the nose and the mouth. A small green square appears at the feature being tracked. As you move your head the square moves with it in the image.

Now press the Scroll Lock key or the Ctrl key or just wait for 4 seconds ("Auto Start"). The Camera Mouse program takes over control of the mouse pointer on the screen. As you move your head the mouse pointer moves accordingly. If you move the mouse itself (or press the Scroll Lock key or Ctrl key) the control returns to the mouse.

You can adjust the settings by clicking on the Camera Mouse Settings button at the bottom of the window. Here you can change the gains and turn on clicking. Clicking is done using "dwell time," by holding the mouse pointer within a small area of the screen for a second or two. Or you can click in the regular way using the mouse button or a switch.

People learn to use Camera Mouse quite quickly.

Yes. We hope it's useful for you.

Camera Mouse really is completely free. There are no hidden costs or gimmicks or advertisements with Camera Mouse. There is no registration.

Camera Mouse is the result of research at Boston College and Boston University. We decided to carry through and not just publish academic papers on the research but to develop it into software that might help people and to make the software available here for free download.

We keep our expenses quite low. We are grateful for continuing contributions from the Philanthropy Committee of the Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL) in Cambridge, MA and from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation (MEAF). We are grateful for the support provided by Boston College.

Camera Mouse is part of our mission of education, research, and service.

A computer with Windows 7, Vista, or an up-to-date XP (with Service Pack 2 or 3 and .NET Framework 2.0).

Also a standard webcam, either one built into the computer or monitor or a standard USB webcam. We use and recommend the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 and the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema. We've tried Camera Mouse with various webcams from Logitech, Creative Labs, and Microsoft and cameras built into various (Windows) notebook, netbook, and tablet computers with success. If the webcam is very low quality, the video image may be noisy and Camera Mouse might have a problem with tracking.

Camera Mouse is intended for people with physical disabilities, people who cannot move their hands to control a mouse or speak to a voice recognition program. To use Camera Mouse a person needs to be able to control the movement of his head. Above are photos of half a dozen people who have benefitted from Camera Mouse.

Camera Mouse was designed primarily for people, often children or teenagers, who were born with physical disabilities (typically with Cerebral Palsy or other neurological disorders).These folks may never have learned to read and are not familiar with using a computer. They might not have any communication system at all. They might not understand cause and effect, that actions on their part can cause events in the world.These people typically would use Camera Mouse with a caregiver at their side. The caregiver would start up Camera Mouse and an application program and then turn control over to the person.

Camera Mouse has been available for free download since June 2007. In that time we've heard of many people, many with disabilities, many not, who benefit from using Camera Mouse in ways we never imagined.

Start with slow but steady head movements. The computer is trying to track the point on your face that you selected. If you make quick, jerky movements the computer might lose tracking. Experiment with your head movements to see what the computer can track and when the computer loses tracking. Pretty soon you should be able to minimize the Camera Mouse program and still control the mouse pointer by moving your head. It's not at all difficult to use Camera Mouse but it does take a couple of minutes of practice.

Then download the free Aliens and Paint programs from the Downloads page and give them a try.

If the program has trouble with tracking try clicking on a different feature on your face. You want a feature with high contrast that remains as you move your head. You can try to adjust the lighting. A bright window or light behind your head might cause problems for the webcam.

Camera Mouse has a built-in facility for clicking using "dwell time". That is, if you hold the mouse pointer over a button or icon for a set amount of time, usually a second, then the Camera Mouse program will click on it. Clicking by dwell time is turned off initially. To turn on clicking first go the the Camera Mouse Settings window. There is a similar facility in Camera Mouse for double-clicking. For more information, see the Camera Mouse 2011 manual.

Other programs for clicking (and for double-clicking or right-clicking) are available from the Downloads page.

You also can click using the regular mouse. You can lift the mouse and use the buttons or use a second mouse with tape over the red light on the bottom so that only the buttons work.

You also can obtain a switch interface and use various switches to act as mouse clicks with Camera Mouse. See, for example, the Switch Interfaces page at Enablemart.com.

Yes. Please contact Maureen Gates of the Boston College Campus School at 617-552-8214 or gatesma@bc.edu.

No. Not at this time.

Yes. Camera Mouse works just fine on Windows 7 running under Boot Camp using the built-in iSight camera in my MacBook Pro. No adjustments were necessary.

Copy the shortcut to Camera Mouse from the desktop and Paste it into the Startup folder. The Startup folder should appear in the All Programs section of the Windows Start menu at the bottom left of the screen. Any programs in the Startup folder are automatically launched when the computer is turned on.

More detailed information is provided in the Camera Mouse 2011 manual.

The error message usually means that you do not have Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed on your computer. Most likely you are running Windows XP without the full Service Pack 2 or 3 or you are running an older version of Windows that came out before XP. If you are running XP you will need to have the full Service Pack 2 or 3 with .NET Framework 2.0 installed to run Camera Mouse.

The place on the bridge of the glasses between the eyes where the different parts of the frame come together often is an excellent spot. Best is to track some small area on the face that has a unique shape. So the center of the forehead usually is not a good spot to track as it usually looks just like the rest of the forehead so the green square will float around. The tip of the nose usually is just a fair spot as the shape may change with the lighting as the head is rotated. The corner of an eyebrow usually is a good spot or the area between the nose and the mouth. Best is to experiment with some different spots for tracking.

Yes. From an email: "I am a software engineer in Seattle. I have some RSI [Repetitive Stress Injury] from typing and mousing. Cameramouse is a good way for me to rest my hands while doing computing at home." The Camera Mouse program is free. Feel free to download the program and try it.

Sure. Give it a try. If it's useful for you, great!

Sorry. We do not make the source code available.

Camera Mouse requires Windows 7 or Windows Vista or an up-to-date Windows XP (with Service Pack 2 or 3 and .NET Framework 2.0).

Yes, it should work fine. If it doesn't please let us know at james.gips@bc.edu.

Camera Mouse works only on computers running Windows 7, Vista, or XP. Camera Mouse should work on any tablet computer that runs one of these Windows operating systems. For example, Camera Mouse works fine on the HP Slate 500 tablet computer.

Yes, certainly. Most commercial products use an infrared-reflective dot placed on the forehead or on a baseball hat with an infrared light source and camera on the monitor to track the movement of the dot. They track better than Camera Mouse, but involve the purchase of special hardware. See the NaturalPoint SmartNav 4:AT system ($499), the Madentec TrackerPro ($995), and the Origin Instruments HeadMouse Extreme ($995). The SmartNav 4:AT system includes a utility for double-clicking and dragging and an onscreen keyboard.

No. Camera Mouse tracks head movements. If a person can just move his eyes you need to use an eye control system, rather than a head control system. At Boston College, we have developed an eye control system called EagleEyes. EagleEyes is manufactured and distributed by the Opportunity Foundation of America. For more information see www.eagleeyes.org or www.ofoa.net. Or contact Debbie Inkley, Executive Director of the Opportunity Foundation of America, at debbieinkley@ofoa.net. There also are commercial eye control systems available, for example, from LC Technologies and Tobii.

No! The head tracking of the camera and the head tracking in Camera Mouse will cancel each other out. The head needs to move in the image in order for Camera Mouse to work.

See the Downloads page of this website for some suggestions. You can try Camera Mouse with any software. It works best with software that doesn't require extreme accuracy and that is controlled by mouse movement and left clicks.

There have been several incarnations of Camera Mouse. The first was developed at our lab in Boston College and was distributed for free on a limited basis. Boston College then awarded the exclusive license to the Camera Mouse technology to Camera Mouse, Inc., a start-up company out of the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas, Austin. The company developed the version of Camera Mouse that they sold commercially. When the company collapsed the license was revoked by Boston College. Camera Mouse 2007 was developed from scratch. Camera Mouse 2008 is an extension of Camera Mouse 2007 that works with a much wider variety of webcams. Camera Mouse 2009 and 2010 and 2011 are improved versions in a much smaller download that work with computers with multiple video sources, such as television tuners. We believe Camera Mouse can help folks so we are making it available for free over the web.

Yes. You can minimize the Camera Mouse program by clicking on the standard minimize button in the top right corner of the window. Camera Mouse will continue to function while the program is minimized. You can switch control between the Camera Mouse and the mouse in the same way, for example by pressing the Scroll Lock key or Ctrl key or moving the mouse.

Yes. This will allow you to monitor the video tracking in one screen while the child sees and runs the full application program in the other screen. But currently there is no provision in Camera Mouse to treat the two screens as one large screen.

Many cameras have a zoom capability, usually in the software. Go into the Camera Mouse Settings window and then click on the Camera Settings button. Look in the camera settings window provided by the camera manufacturer to see if there is a way to zoom in. Alternatively, of course, you can try to move the person closer to the camera or the camera closer to the person. You also can adjust the Horizontal Gain and Vertical Gain settings in the Camera Mouse Settings window.

You can try changing the lighting in the room. Or you can go into the Camera Mouse Settings window and then click on the Camera Settings button. Look in the camera settings window provided by the camera manufacturer to see if there is a way to adjust the brightness of the image. Or maybe you can turn on Automatic RightLight or its equivalent for your webcam (see next question).

Automatic RightLight automatically adjusts the image in low light environments. This is good. It's best to always keep Automatic RightLight, or the equivalent in the settings of webcams made by other manufacturers, turned on.

The problem probably is that you are using a generic Windows driver for your webcam instead of the driver software designed by the manufacturer specifically for your camera or you are using an outdated driver. Best is to go to the webcam manufacturer's website and download and install the latest driver for your webcam. If that doesn't help, please email james.gips@bc.edu.

Camera Mouse 2011 uses whatever video resolution the webcam supplies for tracking. However Camera Mouse usually displays the video as 320x240 in the main window and 160x120 in the smaller window.

Camera Mouse 2011 has problems if the Size of the Text is set to 140% or larger in the Windows Control Panel. We are working on this problem.

Since this website was created in June 2007 there have been over 700,000 downloads of Camera Mouse.

Camera Mouse should work with Windows 7 (32 bit or 64 bit), Windows Vista (32 bit or 64 bit), and with Windows XP (32 bit or 64 bit) with Service Pack 2 or 3 and .NET Framework 2.0 or higher. We have tested the program with only some of the many combinations of computers and versions of the Windows opertaing system. If the program doesn't work or has problems on your computer please email gips@bc.edu and tell us which computer and operating system you are using and the nature of the problem and we will try to solve it.