Intelligent Thimble Could Replace the Mouse In 3D Virtual Reality Worlds 65
New submitter anguyen8 (3736553) writes with news of an interesting experimental spatial input device. From the article: "The mouse is a hugely useful device but it is also a two-dimensional one. But what of the three-dimensional world and the long-standing, but growing, promise of virtual reality. What kind of device will take the place of the mouse when we begin to interact in three-dimensions? Anh Nguyen and Amy Banic ... have created an intelligent thimble that can sense its position accurately in three-dimensions and respond to a set of pre-programmed gestures that allow the user to interact with objects in a virtual three-dimensional world. ... The result is the 3DTouch, a thimble-like device that sits on the end of a finger, equipped with a 3D accelerometer, a 3D magnetometer, and 3D gyroscope. 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. In addition, the 3DTouch has an optical flow sensor that measures the movement of the device against a two-dimensional surface, exactly like that inside an ordinary mouse."
The prototype is wired up to an Arduino Uno, with a program on the host machine polling the device and converting the data into input events. A video of it in action is below the fold, a pre-print of the research paper is on arxiv, and a series of weblog entries explain some of the development.
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Why a thimble in Monopoly.
If not thimble, what other choices you have as a universal 3D input device working on both desktop and spatial settings?
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My first thought was this was too similar and just as futile, but on further reflecti
Sorry, no. (Score:2)
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Ring (Score:2)
I had a 3D ring based system 15 years ago. I hope this is better
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entrepreneurial embellishments (Score:1)
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Waving your arm around to interact with the 3d space will surely tire your arm out if you are sitting at a computer.
Fatigue problem you mentioned is exactly right... as it occurs with Kinect, LEAP, and Wii... that's why this touch device has potential with less fatigue incurred.
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You gotta be pretty freaking lazy and weak to get tired moving a Wiimote around.
It all depends on what game you play, who you are playing with, how often do you play, how intense you play, etc. You may never experience fatigue or muscle pain on the next day because you keep playing certain game that does not require much of the movement. Or you spend all your time playing Wii everyday so your muscle gets used to the movement. Who knows?
Arm. Tired. Really fast. Not practical. (Score:3)
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but if it was me?
I'd rest during breaks for work.
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If you can accomplish a task faster with a 3d-mouse than with a conventional mouse, and with less irritation, then why not?
5 of them for a virtual keyboard (Score:1)
Now, put one on each finger, and we can make virtual keyboards, and have all sorts of fun with the UI. 8 fingers.... 8 bits per byte... we could have each finger represent a bit, on or off. Then without moving the hands or stretching the fingers, each key on the keyboard is represented by which the fingers being lowered or not. Saves the thumbs, one for mouse positioning, the other for enabling mouse mode. In mouse mode, the rest of the fingers would do things like Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Super-Meta on one hand,
Re:10 of them for a virtual keyboard (Score:1)
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66.
Or if you're British, 195.
20 years on the nose (Score:3)
Scott Adams predicted this many years ago [dilbert.com], and I still agree with his analysis.
Done, and done well already. (Score:4, Insightful)
3DConexion, formerly Spacware/Spacetech and possibly a few other names have had advance 3D positioning devices since forever ago, replacing buttons and dials in CAD and CAE software. A thimble is not going to be more or less ergonomic. As with mice, I'm sure it's a personal preference so someone will like it better.The Spaceball however is designed for use with a relaxed hand and does much more than 3D positioning. Like zooming, centering, and what ever else you program the buttons to do
If you want to take "it's position" as the starting point I'll argue that the ergonomics is less than that of a Spaceball, and more in line with motion detecting devices that again we have had for well over a decade. The thimble won't be as useful in HFE, because open and closed hands are at least as important as position and rotation.
In short, this is a wheel that's already been invented. I don't see anything "novel" or even better than what we have had already. Maybe if fits a niche I'm not aware of or care much about.
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... I don't see anything "novel" or even better than what we have had already. Maybe if fits a niche I'm not aware of or care much about.
I think the advantage here is that this could be used be someone freestanding in a VR space.
The 3Dconnexion type devices (and I use one) is, like a mouse or keyboard, for someone with a desk surface in front of them.
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In short, this is a wheel that's already been invented. I don't see anything "novel" or even better than what we have had already.
Then, with all due respect, you don't know what the word "novel" means. Something is novel when it is new or different from what has been done before. This is a thimble that sits on the user's index finger, allowing them to make 3D gestures in space. That's certainly novel compared to the 3DConexion interface, which is a knob with 6 degrees of freedom. They're clearly different devices, and accordingly, this one is novel compared to the Space Navigator.
Now, maybe what you really meant was that this isn't a
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no rest no peace (Score:2)
These 3D whizmos, like for example LEAP motion (incredibly cool), all work great.... for about 20 minutes. Then you put them in the drawer because they require too much muscle coordination and energy to operate. in contrast when you REST your finger on a scroll wheel or REST your hand on a mouse it is not merely not moving, it is at rest in 3 dimensions. it only takes a small effort to move it, but you are not having to run a whole lot of muscles in coordination to keep the hand or finger in a constant p
LEAP Motion (Score:5, Interesting)
3D gesture identification and intent management seems to be a stumbling block so far as well. Seems largely that programmers figured out the hand skeletal structure and then immediately ignored that musculature, tendons, and fine motor control are not the same in all positions and directions.
Some example dumb hand / finger gestures for 3D control (I see these in LEAP motion software and in proposed hand gesture libraries for similar technology):
- Triggering a thumb against the side of the index finger - most of the hand moves, especially the index finger (which is typically being keyed off of for cursor position)
- Triggering by pulling the index finger like a trigger - surprisingly inconsistent when there is no resistive grip or button
- Holding a splayed out hand(s) horizontally, mid air as a default centered position
- Keying z-rotation off of a hand pointed at the screen as if one's arm protruded from the chest
- Expecting the hand to translate mid-air like camera dolly & track.
- Lots of other ergonomically / kinematically ignorant ideas. I think they modeled everything with those articulated wooden hands for clay sculpture. And no arms.
Just some things to consider before creating your own 3D motion controller...
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Fixating on 'gestures' and reducing the entire scope of the input device to them is where the Leap went wrong. And from the summary: "...respond to a set of pre-programmed gestures...", it's where this one will go wrong, too. Gestures are fine for making limited input devices more powerful (as is the case with trackpads) but there's nothing intuitive or compelling about a 'set of pre-programmed gestures' in itself.
There's a bunch cool stuff you could do with these sort of input devices, but everyone seems s
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And from the summary: "...respond to a set of pre-programmed gestures...", it's where this one will go wrong, too.
I totally agree, even the LEAP allows user-defined gestures. However, for this device "pre-programmed gestures" can always be "re-programmed" as users desire because they are eventually just gestures (not fixed buttons or keys).
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The controller should be able to see the "ground plane" of the monitor and adjust rotationally +/- 5-10 degrees and its position between the user and screen and then calibrate that cursor and hand movement are proportional. It's not even difficult projection math to have a cursor that is perceptually under your fing
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Johnny Mnemonic gloves (Score:2)
Johnny Mnemonic gloves where cool this seems like an mini ver of them.
You know what my mouse doesnt do? (Score:2)
It doesnt lag 3-5 video frames after the movement.
I find your lack of faith disturbing. (Score:2)
I am fucking up your UI. Pray I do not fuck it up further.
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. Control-VR has the 10 finger version of the same idea already working as a prototype. The addition of a laser mouse sensor is new, but why is that worth a paper? .
Control-VR is still in their pre-ordering phase. Similar interfaces like Fin, Ring or other emerging prototypes. These including 3DTouch just come out in the same time!
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nobody cares to hold sth the mouse is popular because u can get stuff done with minimum energy and high efficiency, add a UP down key on the mouse or keyboard and u got ur 3rd dimension,
So how would you use the mouse in a spatial setting such as the Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (CAVE)?
Why, web devs? For the love of god, why? (Score:4, Informative)
"Hi, welcome to MIT Tech Review. You've never read our site before, you probably know nothing about our site since you followed a link from an aggregator, and we're blocking you from reading the site now via this pop-over. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE?!?!?!?!?!"
No.
To the best of my knowledge, no.
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Sorry to break it to you guys, but this has already been done in India...in a more polished form.
There is this thing called Ring as well. First of all, they are all just prototyping not on the market yet. So is 3DTouch. Second of all, 3DTouch serves a different niche market of 3D applications while those two don't.
It's a finger-mounted "wand" (Score:2)
I have used and made software for a device precisely such as this one, with position and direction in space, only that it was not worn but handheld and called a "wand". This was fifteen years ago, '98/'99.
It was used for control in a CAVE [wikipedia.org] environment where you are enclosed in a cube of six computer screens with the perspective adjusted to the position and direction of your 3D glasses.
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