Researchers develop thumb ring which controls any smart device with gestures
Screenshot from YouTube/Cheng Zhang


Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, developed a ring that lets users interact with smart devices without any eye contact.

The 'Fingersound' uses a built-in gyroscope and microphone to recognize thumb gestures for data input. Thus, users only have to trace letters or numbers on their fingers with their thumb and input text or use gestures to perform certain operations on a smartwatch, smartphone or computer.

The device uses both movements and sounds to identify gestures as it improves the accuracy compared to a system that only uses movements.

"For instance, to a gyroscope, random finger movements during walking may look very similar to the thumb gestures. But based on our investigation, the sounds caused by these daily activities are quite different from each other," Cheng Zhang, graduate student who created the technology, said.

The researchers believe the Fingersound could be particularly useful in everyday use.

"When a person grabs their phone during a meeting, even if trying to silence it, the gesture can infringe on the conversation or be distracting," project leader Thad Starner said.

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