3D MagicMouse or a ring on your finger?

The old pointing device we use every day, the mouse, has been in use for decades now, without suffering any major improvements or concept changes. That until now, when a group of five WPI undergraduates developed something new, the MagicMouse.

The goal of this project was to create and advanced method of using software that utilizes 3D coordinates, like Google Earth and others. And what better way of doing this than having a 3D mouse? MagicMouse is a three-dimensional ultrasonic computerised pointing device, that you can wear as a ring around you finger. That’s how, this design, easy to use, intuitive and wireless, virtually eliminates the need of using the old mouse.

The ring uses a basic ultrasonic transmitter, which is like a speaker that uses high frequencies that the human ear can’t hear. The emitted signal is received by the special receiver, which has many microphones placed is key positions. Each microphone registers the sound and compares the times where they were recorded. Then the software creates 3D coordinates trough time difference of arrival analysis, that are transmitted to the computer in normal mouse coordinates, by transforming the Z axes movement into scroll movement, while X and Y axis movement remain unchanged. The principle behind the MagicMouse seems pretty simple, but rest assure that the software behind it is hard core.

The mouse has no buttons but those can be virtually programed from mouse gestures, allowing the user to click just by pointing or moving the fingers in special ways. The MagicMouse revolutionises the whole pointing device idea and can be very useful in a vast amount of applications and even games. Just look at the concept behind Nintendo Wii that won so many fans in a short period of time. This mouse would allow more ways of interactivity. So, the number of applications that could use the MagicMouse is practically endless.

Watch the video for more detailed information

No additional software is required by this gadget you just plug it into the USB port and use it. the device has a special kind of battery, which is small, flexible and wraps around your finger. No need to worry about recharging it for a while, as it can last more then 2 weeks of continuous use on a single charge.

The final product is small, low powered and extremely discrete. Combine these, the great number of applications that might benefit from it and the fact that it’s cheap (155$ worth of parts were used for the concept), and you might get a real winner from the 3D MagicMouse.