London, Nov 21: British defense company Qinetiq, has developed a mouse pad that doesn’t require a mouse but instead monitors the movement of the hand above its surface.

The pad catches the hand motions – left, right, forwards and backwards – through a T-shaped array of infrared emitters and sensors, placed together in closely spaced pairs.

As and when a hand signal is made the T-shaped sensor pairs gets excited. Each emitter produces uniquely coded pulses so only its paired sensor can "see" the light as it is reflected by a hand moving above, reports New Scientist.

The pad can also be personalized to follow certain complex gestures made by the hand, such as moving the hand rapidly in a circle, could be stored on a computer as a sign for the machine to "Save all work and shut down – it's time to go home!"

Qinetiq says that the device could be inexpensive as infrared diodes are already manufactured by the million for remote control units.

The pad can also resume its normal function as a conventional mouse pad if the user gets tired of waving their hand. (ANI)