<p>A thimble-like device that sits at the end of your finger and allows you to interact with the virtual world in three dimensions may render the indispensable computer mouse obsolete.</p>.<p>The way in which humans interact with computers has been dominated by the mouse since it was invented in the 1960s.<br /><br /> However, when we use the device, we're limited to two-dimensional movements.<br /><br />Anh Nguyen and Amy Banic from the University of Wyoming in the US have created an intelligent thimble that can sense its position accurately in three-dimensions and respond to a set of preprogrammed gestures that allow the user to interact with objects in a virtual three-dimensional world.<br /><br />According to MIT Technology Review, Nguyen and Banic aimed to create a cheap device that works as a universal input for more or less any computing device.<br /><br /> They want to make it as small and unobtrusive as possible so that it can be easily transported.<br /><br />The 3DTouch sits on the end of a finger, equipped with a 3D accelerometer, a 3D magnetometer and 3D gyroscope.<br /><br />That allows the data from each sensor to be compared and combined to produce a far more precise estimate of orientation than a single measurement alone.<br /><br />The 3DTouch also has an optical flow sensor that measures the movement of the device against a two-dimensional surface, exactly like that inside an ordinary mouse.<br /><br />For now, the device is hooked up by wire to an Arduino controller which combines the data from all the sensors. The fused data is then streamed to a conventional laptop.<br /><br />"This wired connection later could be replaced by a wireless solution using a pair of XBee modules," researchers said.<br /><br />Researchers have also built in a number of mouse-like gestures that allow a user to interact with 3-D objects, by selecting and dragging them.<br /><br />They have tested their new device to measure its pointing accuracy and say that it is reasonably good. <br /></p>
<p>A thimble-like device that sits at the end of your finger and allows you to interact with the virtual world in three dimensions may render the indispensable computer mouse obsolete.</p>.<p>The way in which humans interact with computers has been dominated by the mouse since it was invented in the 1960s.<br /><br /> However, when we use the device, we're limited to two-dimensional movements.<br /><br />Anh Nguyen and Amy Banic from the University of Wyoming in the US have created an intelligent thimble that can sense its position accurately in three-dimensions and respond to a set of preprogrammed gestures that allow the user to interact with objects in a virtual three-dimensional world.<br /><br />According to MIT Technology Review, Nguyen and Banic aimed to create a cheap device that works as a universal input for more or less any computing device.<br /><br /> They want to make it as small and unobtrusive as possible so that it can be easily transported.<br /><br />The 3DTouch sits on the end of a finger, equipped with a 3D accelerometer, a 3D magnetometer and 3D gyroscope.<br /><br />That allows the data from each sensor to be compared and combined to produce a far more precise estimate of orientation than a single measurement alone.<br /><br />The 3DTouch also has an optical flow sensor that measures the movement of the device against a two-dimensional surface, exactly like that inside an ordinary mouse.<br /><br />For now, the device is hooked up by wire to an Arduino controller which combines the data from all the sensors. The fused data is then streamed to a conventional laptop.<br /><br />"This wired connection later could be replaced by a wireless solution using a pair of XBee modules," researchers said.<br /><br />Researchers have also built in a number of mouse-like gestures that allow a user to interact with 3-D objects, by selecting and dragging them.<br /><br />They have tested their new device to measure its pointing accuracy and say that it is reasonably good. <br /></p>