A mouse wheel that senses touch and release, so a flick starts inertial scrolling and a touch stops it, with no mode switch.
Why
Long scrolls on a mouse wheel mean repeated, tiring clutching. Free-spinning modes avoid that but need a button to switch, and scrolling mixes short and long moves.
How
A touch sensor and encoder drive a virtual wheel that starts at release speed and slows under simulated friction. Twelve participants used it against Normal, FreeSpin and Toggle wheels on long and short tasks.
New
Participants chose flick-and-stop where it helped: up to 0.62 of wheel operations on long scrolls, near zero on short. There it took less time than Normal, fewer discrete actions than Toggle.
