Wireless Mouse Ring Interface

Virtual reality can be a fun and immersive experience, but if you have to take off the headset to click onscreen button X, Y, and Z, things quickly get less realistic. To help maintain his immersion when playing Digital Combat Simulator World (DCSW), rafgaj78 created a set of wireless mouse rings. One is constructed for his right index finger, while the other sits on the left.

The wearable runs on a Seed Studio XIAO nRF52840 dev board, which takes care of Bluetooth data transmission, and even includes battery management for its small LiPo supply. A slide switch powers on and shuts down the device, and four tactile buttons are used for left and right mouse clicks, plus scroll wheel up and down signals.

Code for the ring is available here, and 3D print files can be found on Thingiverse. You'll also need a Leap Motion device to track ring movement and to install the Fingers software by Glen Murphy in order to use it with DCSW.

Although set up for DCSW, this finger-mounted device looks like a fantastic interface for a number of applications. Imagine using it to navigate an article or scroll through Twitter while leaning back in your chair away from your keyboard and mouse. With a few modifications, you could make this setup do whatever you like interface-wise.

While it uses a Leap Motion device as currently set up, one might also consider subbing in an XIAO nRF52840 Sense, with its onboard six-axis IMU, to forgo that piece of hardware altogether!