Bangalore based tech company Intugine Technologies founded by IIT Kharagpur students have developed a gesture control ring called Nimble that hopes to redefine how you interact with your entertainment devices and computers.
Nimble is a light flexible ring that encloses your index finger and helps you gesture-motion-to-control your Smart TV, computer, virtual reality handsets, AC and many other devices from a distance of 15 ft.
Pair the Nimble with the Nimble tip, touch and sensor and what happens next are awe-inspiring. Nimble tip is a concave shaped ring that fits your finger tip perfectly, so any movement you make is easily traced via the sensors once you wear it. You can use it to draw, paint, write, play, pinch to zoom and just about anything you had to do earlier with a mouse and keyboard from a distance of 15 ft of sensor.
Want to control multimedia tools? This can be done by wearing a ring on your index finger and moving the thumb finger over the ring helps you switch videos, play or queue songs, play games and switch slides during a presentation. This device is called Nimble Touch. The sensor is on the receiving end of your gestures made with Nimble tip and Nimble Touch.
The nimble sensor should be connected to your computer or other smart devices via the USB port. Once plugged in, the device connects to the Nimble Touch and Tip with millimeter accuracy and can re-track you even if there’s an obstruction between you and the connected device like TV. The sensor is so accurate in capturing your unique finger movements that scribbling your signature can be your password to log in!
Check out their introductory video:
The sensor, nimble touch and tip help you even control your room temperature on AC, dim or brighten your room lights without having to get up to do so manually. Also the sensor does not emit any kind of radiation which is a green measure.
If you’re already wondering it’s too good to be true, another jaw dropping feature is- you can play multiplayer games with multiple nimbles connected to the sensor for as many hours as you wish. Only stop to recharge the Nimble tip batteries that don’t take long to charge.
Another “did you know” fact about Nimble is that you can assign different and complicated gestures to function in unique and customized ways. Power packed with so many user friendly or should I say mindboggling user features, Nimble certainly is a device that’s sure to take on the market.
Nimble is a creation of Bangalore based Intugine Technologies Pvt Ltd founded by IIT- Kharaghpur drop outs Harshit Shrivastava, Vivek Kumar and Abhishek Sharma. The trio have developed this product from scratch to give Nimble it’s edge over other similar products.
Leapmotion and Finn are few other products (Leap is not developed by finn ). Leap is limited by a range of 2 ft. While finn is not developed to deliver the kind of accuracy and responsiveness Nimble has.
The new age interactive computing is the new kid on the tech block. “To make our interaction more natural and intuitive with operating systems like Windows, we are developing another layer of interaction which consists of more physical interfaces like rotating knobs with fingers to change volume, pulling threads to pull your dashboard from above, make a cross to close any program, and flick your hand to switch between applications.” says Harshit Shrivastava. Nimble currently works on Windows, Android and iOS.
Nimble is priced at Rs.5,000 (around USD 85) but the first 500 pre-orders will get it at a “value for money” price of Rs. 3,500. The IIT Kharagpur trio are now in process of securing the patent in their name before going international.
The team also plans to do a Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for developing Nimble. The campaign will soon be live.
Nimble may soon replace the mouse for your computers, remote for TV, knobs on ACs and consoles for playstation. As amazing as it sounds, everything is just a touch away will soon be a reality.