Researchers from the University of Tokyo have unveiled picoRing, a wearable ring-style wireless mouse designed for extended use. The motivation: as augmented reality (AR) and other wearable interfaces gain popularity, traditional mice and bulky controllers lose practicality. But earlier ring devices faced limits in battery life, weight, and power consumption. picoRing aims to break that ceiling, tells Tech Xplore.
The key to its long battery life lies in ultra-low power communication. The ring itself consumes just 30–500 microwatts, hundreds of times less than conventional smart rings. It achieves this by relying on a semi-passive inductive telemetry method: the ring communicates with a wristband relay, which handles the heavier signal transmission to the target device (AR glasses, computers). This division lets the ring stay lightweight (5 g) and low power.
Rather than using Bluetooth or NFC, the ring’s coil is interspersed with capacitors, forming a resonant circuit that amplifies magnetic fields without needing an active amplifier. That lets the ring operate over reasonable distances with extremely low energy use. The wristband relay picks up the signal, decodes it, and forwards it, thus preserving usability while offloading power demand.
In prototype tests, picoRing supports basic inputs such as cursor movement, tapping, and scrolling for more than a month of continuous use on one charge. Its designers see it as especially useful for AR/VR or situations where hands-free or deskless input is desirable.
The team does acknowledge limitations. Gesture complexity is low, interference in wireless environments can affect reliability, and comfort or ergonomics need improvement. Before picoRing can find wide use, these areas must be refined and validated in longer, more varied testing.
picoRing shows that by clever power partitioning and minimalism in design, ring-based input devices can become viable alternatives to larger mice, at least in use cases where subtlety, wearability, and endurance matter.