When you really think hard about it, the computer mouse doesn’t exactly make sense from an interaction point of view. It’s an indirect method that moves an object that’s only virtually connected to the cursor on your screen. But because of its ubiquity, our brains have adapted to almost thinking about mice as second nature, using it as swiftly as we would a pen on paper.
That doesn’t mean it’s perfect in terms of design, and definitely not in terms of ergonomics. There’s plenty of room not only for improvement but also for exploring other forms that could make the device more interesting. This DIY project, for example, reduces the mouse to something like a V-shaped LEGO block that you wear on your finger, making it practically invisible until your hand starts to hurt.
Designer: juskim
The most basic requirements for a mouse are a sensor that translates hand movement to cursor movements and sensors for detecting mouse clicks. The fact that trackpads and styluses perform these functions as well demonstrates that the standard bulging mouse design isn’t exactly a requirement. Some concepts try to take advantage of that by designing unusual shapes, but this particular experiment completely does away with almost all of those.
The Mouse Ring, as it is called, is practically reduced to the optical sensor for movement, microcontrollers that connect the mouse to a wireless receiver, a tiny battery for power, and two proximity sensors. That last bit is perhaps the most interesting part since it uses your finger movements as substitutes for mouse buttons. With the Mouse Ring on the middle finger, raising and dropping your index finger is interpreted as a left click, while doing the same with the ring finger becomes the right click.
The device works and it makes you feel like you’re living in the future, using a nearly invisible mouse that wraps around your finger like a pulse oximeter. But as you might have expected, it’s not exactly the best experience. Ignoring even the latency when detecting “clicks,” the ergonomics of such a mouse is even worse than the least ergonomic standard mouse. Lifting the ring finger isn’t exactly easy and keeping your hand arched like that without support will definitely be painful after a while.
That said, the experiment could lead to further improvements, especially considering a working prototype has been proven to work. It’s particularly impressive how small the electronics are, which in turn opens the door to even more unconventional mouse designs. Minority Report’s “air mouse” doesn’t look that fictional anymore.
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