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In Lausanne, research is being carried out – 100 percent animal-friendly – on mice, those for the computer. Logitech has its own innovation center at the EPFL with a basement full of laboratories. There is also an engineer who is responsible for the right “click”.
This is the case at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). largest development center by Logitech. Whoever visits it is informed right at the beginning that photography and filming is strictly forbidden.
Workshops and various laboratories are located along the seemingly endless basement corridors. A test subject has small boxes on their arm that measure how muscles move or twist, and how much strain the fingers take when they click.
Click three million times a year
All values can be seen on a monitor in real time. On average, we cover 27 kilometers a year with a mouse and click up to three million times. Specialists optimize the mouse with the aim of preventing posture problems when working.
In other laboratories, designers develop the appearance of a new mouse or measure in specially sealed rooms whether the radio signal of the device complies with the limit values.
Mr. Click’s laboratory
In another room, engineers put optical sensors under stress. To do this, they accelerate the mouse with the help of a catapult to the speeds of a Formula 1 racing car. Then they test whether the mouse can still scan a surface even under extreme conditions and whether it can withstand the gravitational forces.
Legend:
Research has been going on for a long time: In 2015, a Logitech computer mouse was tested in a dust-tight room in the test laboratory.
Keystone/Gaetan Bally
The switch that generates the mouse click is also being worked on in the same laboratory. It is the realm of Jan Stöckli. The French-speaking Swiss engineer is responsible for everything to do with mouse clicks. An important task, because in the more than 40-year history of Logitech we have learned that a switch and the click contribute a lot to whether we are satisfied with the mouse – or not, says Stöckli.
Click sound: annoying or pleasant?
Gamers usually prefer a “fat” click to hear the exact moment they trigger an action. Jan Stöckli has developed special switches for such high-performance mice, but also for mice that hardly click. The challenge here: The switches have to produce a click feeling for the finger even without a sound.
To find out how to teach a switch to do this, test subjects had to try mice with a strong and no click. Most said the mouse with the strong click was better.
Legend:
A Logitech computer mouse for gamers is tested for its longevity (picture 2015).
KEYSTONE/Gaetan Bally
in a second run, they had to try the same mice again, this time with headphones, so that they no longer heard the clicking sound. Now many test subjects came to a different conclusion and stated that the mouse without a concise click was the better one.
Research for good sound
The automotive industry has long recognized the importance of sound design for brand recognition. The Logitech engineer smiles when comparing: one is not that far with a mouse click, but on the way there. In special rooms, audio engineers measure the click noise of various switches and try to get a Logitech-typical click.
Could Jan Stöckli distinguish strangers’ mice from his own? “Yes,” he says. With the newer models, the switches for which he developed himself, his hit rate is good, just like he can tell the most important types of wine apart in a blind tasting.