Now use you hand as a joystick with this smartwatch prototype

The strap will allow gestures as input instead of smartwatch gesture

Researchers have developed a smartwatch prototype that utilizes the wrist wearing the watch as a joystick — so one can perform touchscreen gestures with one-handed continuous input.

This means that one can check emails, track fitness, and listening to music — functions that a smartwatch can easily and also more, in case the hands aren't free.

The name of the company is WristWhirl and is one of the first companies to deviate from one-handed continuous gestures using smartwatches and use gestural input.

Assistant professor at Dartmouth College, Xing-Dong Yang said, “This shows what smartwatches may be able to do in the future, by allowing users to interact with the device using one hand while freeing up the other hand for other tasks.”

For the development of WristWhirl prototype, researchers have investigated the biomechanical ability of the wrist by tasking a small group of participants to carry out eight joystick-like gestures while standing and walking.

Participants wore the watch on their left wrist were told to use their wrist to make four directional marks similar to flicking a touch screen, and four free-form shapes, such as a triangle.

The results showed the participants were able to make directional marks at an average rate of half of a second and free-form shape at an average rate of approximately 1.5 seconds.

Built from a 2-inch TFT display and a plastic watch strap augmented with 12 infrared proximity sensors and a Piezo vibration sensor placed inside the wrist strap, WristWhirl will be presented at the ACM Symposium on User interface Software and Technology in Tokyo on October 19.