---
title: "This Device Allows You to Control a Computer With Your Tongue"
description: "Graduate designer Dorothee Clasen has come up with an unusual new way to interface with a computer: a tongue-operated controller."
date: "2020-09-08"
modified: "2020-09-08"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/computer-control-with-tongue"
categories:
  - "Computing"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "electronic tongue"
  - "human-computer interaction"
  - "the digest"
---

# This Device Allows You to Control a Computer With Your Tongue

![Graduate designer Dorothee Clasen has come up with an unusual new way to interface with a computer: a tongue-operated controller.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/computer-control-tongue.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Dorothee Clasen\</em\>*

## Tong

Dorothee Clasen, a master's student of design at the Köln International School of Design, has come up with an unusual new way to interface with a computer: a tongue-operated controller.

At its core, the prototype device is a dental retainer with a ball and magnet attached to it that slide along a set of rails, as [*Dezeen* reports](<https://www.dezeen.com/2020/08/26/inbrace-dorothee-clasen-graduate-design-technology-tongue-computer/>).

https://youtu.be/fxmdYEpPe6U

## Move the Ball Back and Forth

The idea is simple: the wearer can move the ball back and forward with their tongue. A wire coming out of the wearer's mouth hooks up to a WiFi transmitter to send the information to a nearby computer.

According to Clasen, it's meant for with disabilities, or for those whose two hands are already occupied.

## Human Reins

In a demonstration, Clasen was able to play a game of Tong, a tongue-based take on the Atari classic Pong, as shown in the video above.

Oddly, she says she got the idea from riding a horse.

"As I do horse riding as a hobby, I was especially fascinated by the haptic communication between the rider's hand and the horse's mouth," Clasen told *Dezeen*. "Through the reins, the human influences the horse's posture, and at the same time has to rely on his sense of touch to check on the horse's posture."

**READ MORE:** [Tong allows users to control a computer with their tongue](<https://www.dezeen.com/2020/08/26/inbrace-dorothee-clasen-graduate-design-technology-tongue-computer/>) \[*Dezeen*\]

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)