Oh, you mean like this:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/   $180 US


"This tiny device laser-projects a keyboard on any flat
surface... you can then type away accompanied by simulated
key click sounds. It really is true future magic at its best."

company home page http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/

or this one http://www.virtualdevices.net/

Guess they've already beaten you to market...
R

Gus S Calabrese wrote:
> When you come up with a method for $12 per finger, let me know
> I would love to help you test it.
> POD
> 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
> On 2006-May 31, at 17:08hrs PM, Randy Boulter wrote:
> 
> Forgive me for not providing a more complete description.  The intended
> applicaton is a type of "virtual keyboard".  For now, I need to  
> simulate,
> using a finger-mounted sensor, the action of reaching out and  
> touching a key
> with one finger.  And then be able to track the finger as it is  
> lifted and
> moved to another key. This will eventually be expanded to 10  
> fingers.   I
> located some information on the sensors you mentioned - these could  
> be used
> to determine if the finger is bent (i.e pressing a key), but that still
> leaves the problem of locating the finger in space.  BTW, $6-12 per  
> finger
> is not a show-stopper - I would just like to do it for less if possible.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Randy
> 
> 
> 
>>>I have been tasked with doing a conceptual design for a device
>>> that tracks finger movement using a sensor device mounted to
>>>the finger.  Does anyone have experience with this or something
>>>similar?  Or thoughts or ideas?  For now, I only have to worry
>>>about one finger - but need to track position in 3 dimensions
>>>with a resolution of about 5mm over an area of 1 cubic meter.
>>> Also, the device cannot use a reflective method (such as ir or
>>>ultrasonic).    So far, I have investigated using accelerometer
>>>chips, but these are still fairly expensive and I would like a
>>>lower-cost alternative.
>>>
>>
>>I'm not certain this is a feasible project within the parameters  
>>given.
>>Particularly, the fact that you're feeling accelerometers are too
>>costlly gives me pause.  If you can't handle US$6-12 per finger,
>>which is the cost of many MEMS accelerometers these days, you
>>are not likely to find a non-reflective method for tracking ten  
>>fingers
>>for less than that.
>>
>>That said, I believe one of the ways VR gloves do their thing is by
>>using strain-sensitive or flex-sensitive resistors to measure the
>>degree to which the fingers are bent.  Not sure that's what you need.
>>
>>Are you trying to track the tip of the finger, then, or the whole  
>>finger,
>>so that a model of the finger can be reconstructed later?
>>
>>Mike H.
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> 
> 
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