City-based Robotics startup RHL Vision, is taking the crowd funding route to raise USD 100,000 in 45 days to launch its product 'Fin' -- a wearable smart ring that can turn your palm into a gesture interface, to control multiple devices.
Fin is the first hardware product developed by the company, which was one among the top 15 companies at the TechCrunch CES Hardware Battlefield in Las Vegas last week.
The stylish thumb ring with gesture-control capabilities has been wowing technophiles with the sheer simplicity of its concept and its ease of use.
RHL Vision, which is incubated at Startup Village here, has completed the Fin prototypes and testing.
It is now gearing up to take the device into production and has launched a campaign on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo with the target of raising USD 100,000 over 45 days, a company release said.
'Fin' is fitted with a bunch of sensors that can detect finger taps, swipes and identify various parts of the palm by calculating their distance from the thumb. It uses smart Low Energy Technology such as Bluetooth for communication with connected devices.
It can transmit these natural gestures as commands to any connected Bluetooth device, such as a smartphone, a music player, a gaming console, a digital interface inside a car, a television set or a home automation device. It can support up to three devices at a time.
"We are looking at wearable technology pioneers, tech- lovers, early adopters, and creative developers to support Fin and take the concept forward," says Rohildev N, the 23-year- old founder and CEO of RHL Vision.
"It is a technology with endless possibilities. We have ourselves come up with hundreds of ideas for applications to integrate with Fin, but we know that we haven't even scratched the surface of what is possible."
One of the most valuable applications of Fin, he thinks, will be as a companion for the physically challenged, provided they have a functional thumb.
The palm can be a touch interface for the visually impaired and Fin can be used to control disability aids with the least amount of physical stress, he says.
The Indiegogo funding campaign will run until the end of February. By June the RHL team hopes to complete product/ software development and testing; and launch the developers' version. By September this year the full-feature Fin is expected to be shipped to the early backers.
