3DTouch - The Wearable Input Device That May Kill The Good Ol' Mouse
A duo of computer researchers - Anh Nguyen and Amy Banic from the University of Wyoming in US have developed a new kind of 3D input device named '3DTouch' that is being called a smart thimble. Embedded with an accelerometer, gyroscope and a magnetometer, the 3DTouch device gets attached to the tip of the finger lets the user control the on-screen mouse pointer, just by moving the finger around. The device is capable of performing 3D selection, translation, and rotation on the screen. Said to put an end to the era of a computer mouse, the 3DTouch input device also makes use of an optical laser sensor and a 9-DOF inertial measurement unit.
The location data collected from these sensors is sent to a laptop for further processing. The 3DTouch device can also be used with touchscreen-style gestures such as double tap and long press. The paper published by the research team on the same device presents a a low-cost solution to designing and implementing such a device. Their evaluation also demonstrates the device's tracking accuracy of 1.10 mm and 2.33 degrees for subtle touch interaction in 3D space.
In their demonstration, the team used an Arduino controller to record the sensor data. Their main priority right now, is therefore, going from wired to wireless. Also on their target list is making the device cross-platform friendly. By making the device compatible with multiple platforms, easily portable and cheap - they might just hit the right chord in the wearable market segment.
In fact, with us entering into the booming era of fast developing virtual reality devices such as the ever-popular Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard, a low-cost device that offers a way to interact with these VR options might be really very useful. Till that becomes a reality, take a look at the the 3DTouch device in action here -
What are your thoughts on the new kind of input device for our machines of the future? Share with us in comments below.
Source: <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2684639/Death-computer-mouse-Device-replaced-smart-THIMBLE.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Is 3DTouch the death of the computer mouse? | Daily Mail Online</a> | #-Link-Snipped-#
The location data collected from these sensors is sent to a laptop for further processing. The 3DTouch device can also be used with touchscreen-style gestures such as double tap and long press. The paper published by the research team on the same device presents a a low-cost solution to designing and implementing such a device. Their evaluation also demonstrates the device's tracking accuracy of 1.10 mm and 2.33 degrees for subtle touch interaction in 3D space.
In their demonstration, the team used an Arduino controller to record the sensor data. Their main priority right now, is therefore, going from wired to wireless. Also on their target list is making the device cross-platform friendly. By making the device compatible with multiple platforms, easily portable and cheap - they might just hit the right chord in the wearable market segment.
Source: <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2684639/Death-computer-mouse-Device-replaced-smart-THIMBLE.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Is 3DTouch the death of the computer mouse? | Daily Mail Online</a> | #-Link-Snipped-#
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