SkinRing: Ring-shaped Device Enabling Wear Direction-Independent Gesture Input on Side of Finger

Ring-shaped devices are small, socially acceptable wearable devices that are gaining attention as health tracking and input devices. Although various ring-shaped input devices have been developed, they are limited in the direction of rotation when worn, requiring the user to be aware of the wear direction while wearing or operating the device. We propose the SkinRing, a ring-shaped device that enables gesture input on the side of the finger, regardless of the wear direction. The SkinRing consists of eight photo-reflective sensors attached to a ring, which is put on the index finger and acquires skin deformation information for gesture identification when the thumb touches the side of the index finger. The initial calibration of the hand’s opening and closing allows for input independent of the direction of rotation of the ring when worn. A user study, where the identification results of nine gestures were given, shows an average accuracy of 87.8%.