Abstract: A artificial-reality system, including an optional head-wearable device to display an artificial-reality environment and a wrist-wearable device, identifies and detects shapes of surfaces, and, optionally, the distances of surfaces from the wrist-wearable device, and makes operations, including haptic events, available to users by detecting gestures performed by the user, causing respective operations to be performed based on the type of gestures, and optionally, the distance of the wrist-wearable device from surfaces during performance of the gestures. For example, the wrist-wearable device can be configured to cause performance of a first set of operations corresponding to in-air gestures, which are performed within an in-air threshold distance of a surface, a second set of operations corresponding to near-surface gestures performed within a surface threshold distance of a surface.

Abstract: A method includes, while presenting an artificial-reality environment that includes a virtual object and a representation of a physical object, detecting, based on data from a first group of sensors of a wrist-wearable device, that the wrist-wearable device is within a first distance of an electronic device responsive to user gestures and within another threshold distance of the virtual object. The electronic device is represented within the artificial-reality environment. The method includes, while the wrist-wearable device is within the first activation-threshold distance of the electronic device and is also within a second activation-threshold distance of the virtual object, determining, based on data from a second set of sensors of the wrist-wearable device, that a gesture corresponds to an operation at the electronic device. And the method includes, based on determining that the user gesture corresponds to the operation, causing the physical electronic device to perform the operation.