Hasso-Plattner-Institut
Prof. Dr. Patrick Baudisch
 

Nenya

Figure 1: The Nenya ring: Twisting the ring enters a 1D parameter; here rotation is used to select the menu item "radio". Users confirm a selection by sliding the ring along the finger.

We present Nenya, a new input device in the shape of a finger ring. Nenya provides an input mechanism that is always available, fast to access, and allows analog input, while remaining socially acceptable by being embodied in commonly worn items. Users make selections by twisting the ring and "click" by sliding it along the finger. The ring — the size of a regular wedding band — is magnetic, and is tracked by a wrist-worn sensor. Nenya’s tiny size, eyes-free usability, and physical form indistinguishable from a regular ring make its use subtle and socially acceptable. We present two user studies (one- and two-handed) in which we studied sighted and eyes-free use, finding that even with no visual feedback users were able to select from eight targets.

Figure 2: Nenya’s tiny size is due to it being magnetically tracked by the wrist-worn baselet. The lines illustrate how the magnetic field changes through a 90° ring rotation.

Publication

Ashbrook, D, White, S. and Baudisch, P. Nenya: Subtle and Eyes-Free Mobile Input with a Magnetically-Tracked Finger Ring. In Proceedings of CHI 2011, 4 pages (Note).