Two University of Buffalo researchers have designed a fingertip device they say is capable of “capturing human intent.”

Thenkurussi Kesavadas, or “Kesh” as he prefers to be called, the director of UB’s Virtual Reality Lab, developed the Fingertip Digitizer with Young-seok Kim, now employed by Tactus Technology of Buffalo, New York.

“When we move our fingers,” he says, “we create meaning with that movement. Unlike other haptic devices, ours digitally captures all of that movement and feeds it back to a computer for interpretation.”

Kesh says their device is a more intuitive improvement on the mouse. “It is not just a 2D pointing interface,” he says, “but rather it is a 3D fingertip.”

Consisting of wired rings worn on fingertips, the digitizer passes sensory data back to a computer terminal. It uses three sensors to create its fingertip mimicry: a position sensor to determine where it is located within space as well as where it is going; an accelerometer to gauge speed; and a force sensor to measure pressure.

Similar to the handheld Wii nunchuk in that it is a motion sensing device, it is a considerably smaller device. In addition to its motion sensing capabilities, it can actually determine what kind of material it is touching—such as plastic, wood or metal—and it depicts object shapes.

“In other words, not only will it tell you that you are touching a teddy bear, it will tell you what the teddy bear is made of,” says Kesh.

One industry the digitizer will likely impact is the medical sector. The Fingertip Digitizer is just as adept at identifying organic material as it is at inanimate objects. “We already demonstrated it can be used to determine the difference between soft tissue and harder materials,” he said.

Another application he foresees for their device is to aid disabled people who might be able to move their fingers. ‘Potentially, the digitizer could be used just as a mouse might be, with far less finger or hand movement.”

Kesh says he and Kim plan to make a wireless version of their device next year.

Additional miniaturization is also in the works. He thinks they can cut the size to a fingernail-sized, fingertip cover.

“If your purpose is only to touch object, then our digitizer will stick on your fingertips,” he says. “But if you want to feel the surface, as well, it will have to remain as a ring.”