We wrote a short paper on our experience using 3D mice to control robot manipulators. It’s a useful resource, but you don’t have to take my word for it.

I initially understood how to make the device usable while working at NVIDIA, but the code I developed there is tied to the Isaac ecosystem. This paper’s implementation is ROS-ready. Once you understand their limitations, 3D mice are pretty handy. They’re full 6DOF control in a cheap, widely available, broadly compatible, and mechanically robust package. Every roboticist working on manipulation should keep one around.