Wireless 3D ring mouse

A WPI undergraduate students team have developed new generation 3D ring mouse and able to win  popular science invention of the year. There are plenty of reasons to criticize the traditional computer mouse. It looks the same as it always has. It twists the wrist and clutters the desk, taking the coffee cup’s rightful place. Now these days, we are using ancient mouse of 40 years, and it’s time for a change.

Mike Cretella, a 21-year-old senior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, his partners and their professor-hope to transform the mouse into a snugly fitting ring that would enable you to speed a cursor around a screen as if it’s an extension of your finger. Their prototype, designed and constructed as a senior project, But it acts like a magic wand. You move [your hand] up and to the right in space and your cursor will move up and to the right. The mouse detects all three dimensions, so you can click by jabbing your finger ahead, or maneuver your way through 3-D applications like Google Earth.

Although the system looks a bit rough, it works flawlessly. They aren’t shopping the invention around yet, but they’re not without upgrade ideas. Apple shows keen interest on this. Cretella and his team trying to reduce the prototype that looks like a normal ring. And soon it will be on your finger. Till have to wait……

How it Works
The mouse ring emits ultrasonic pulses that are picked up by five receivers mounted on (eventually, in) a monitor. Based on the time each receiver hears the pulse, a processor calculates its position in three dimensions relative to the five spots and translates it to a cursor position onscreen.