There are as many several types of keyboards and mice as there are flavors of ice cream. Whether or not you’re available in the market for a mechanical keyboard with customizable RGB lighting or an ergonomic mouse designed to scale back wrist pressure, the choices are seemingly infinite. You could find compact keyboards for tight areas, gaming mice with adjustable DPI settings for precision, and even wi-fi setups for a clutter-free desk. For many who kind so much, there are keyboards with totally different change sorts that provide varied tactile suggestions and sound ranges. Likewise, mice are available varied sizes and shapes to suit totally different hand grips and preferences.
However by and huge, these gadgets are all designed to sit down straight in entrance of the consumer at a desk. For a wide range of causes, like aches and pains attributable to arthritis or a repetitive pressure damage, that’s not at all times the perfect resolution for everybody. Typically you’ll want to chill on the sofa or in a recliner, however nonetheless get some work performed. And in these conditions, discovering an enter gadget on your laptop that truly works nicely is usually a massive problem.
An outline of the {hardware} design (📷: S. Dai)
A Hackaday.io consumer named Sophia Dai is aware of this ache all too nicely, so Dai determined to create a wearable interface gadget that’s each nice to work with and usable from wherever it’s wanted. The result’s a comparatively small keyboard-mouse ring known as ErgO. It’s composed of a handful of cheap off-the-shelf elements and can be utilized to manage a pc or about every other Bluetooth-enabled gadget.
Powering the gadget is a Seeed Studio XIAO nRF52840 Sense microcontroller improvement board, which offers processing energy in addition to an inertial measurement unit and a Bluetooth transceiver. That is paired with a Pimoroni Trackball, a number of buttons and switches, and a small, rechargeable battery. These elements are match into the bottom of a 3D-printed ring that permits the wearer to manage gadgets with their pointer finger and thumb.
ErgO operates in two totally different modes — mouse and keyboard. In mouse mode, finger motions translate straight into on-screen cursor actions. There’s additionally a tiny trackball that may be manipulated with the thumb when better precision is required. With a button press, ErgO could be put into keyboard mode. With the intention to kind, the consumer holds down a button, then traces the letter that they need to kind within the air. The trackball can be repurposed to work like arrow keys on a standard keyboard.
The mouse mode appears to be essentially the most interesting operate of ErgO. Dai admitted that typing is slightly bit awkward, however the place mouse work is primarily wanted, with simply occasional typing, the ring actually shines. Other than that, the ring is a bit bigger than ideally suited due to using industrial improvement boards, however a redesign is definitely potential with a customized PCB and minimal listing of elements which are really utilized.
In any case, ErgO appears like it could be a whole lot of enjoyable to play with, and possibly even helpful. If you want to strive it out for your self, try the total, step-by-step construct directions to get began by yourself copy of the gadget.