picoRing: battery-free rings for subtle thumb-to-index input

TL;DR

picoRing introduces a battery-free, lightweight smart ring system that uses inductive coupling for reliable thumb-to-finger interactions, enabling subtle wearable input without bulk or batteries.

Contribution

This work presents a novel battery-free sensing architecture for smart rings using inductive coupling, allowing for lightweight, comfortable, and reliable finger input detection.

Findings

Ring weighs as little as 1.5 g

Achieves 13 cm stable readout distance

Supports various thumb-to-finger interactions

Abstract

Smart rings for subtle, reliable finger input offer an attractive path for ubiquitous interaction with wearable computing platforms. However, compared to ordinary rings worn for cultural or fashion reasons, smart rings are much bulkier and less comfortable, largely due to the space required for a battery, which also limits the space available for sensors. This paper presents picoRing, a flexible sensing architecture that enables a variety of \textit{battery-free} smart rings paired with a wristband. By inductively connecting a wristband-based sensitive reader coil with a ring-based fully-passive sensor coil, picoRing enables the wristband to stably detect the passive response from the ring via a weak inductive coupling. We demonstrate four different rings that support thumb-to-finger interactions like pressing, sliding, or scrolling. When users perform these interactions, the corresponding ring converts each input into a unique passive response through a network of passive switches. Combining the coil-based sensitive readout with the fully-passive ring design enables a tiny ring that weighs as little as 1.5 g and achieves a 13 cm stable readout despite finger bending, and proximity to metal.