Z-Ring: Single-Point Bio-Impedance Sensing for Gesture, Touch, Object and User Recognition

We present Z-Ring, a wearable ring that enables gesture input, object detection, user identification, and interaction with passive user interface (UI) elements using a single sensing modality and a single point of instrumentation on the finger. Z-Ring uses active electrical field sensing to detect changes in the hand’s electrical impedance caused by finger motions or contact with external surfaces. We develop a diverse set of interactions and evaluate them with 21 users. We demonstrate: (1) Single- and two-handed gesture recognition with up to 93% accuracy (2) Tangible input with a set of passive touch UI elements, including buttons, a continuous 1D slider, and a continuous 2D trackpad with 91.8% accuracy, <4.4 cm MAE, and <4.1cm MAE, respectively (3) Object recognition across six household objects with 94.5% accuracy (4) User identification among 14 users with 99% accuracy. Z-Ring’s sensing methodology uses only a single co-located electrode pair for both receiving and sensing, lending itself well to future miniaturization for use in on-the-go scenarios.