![Head-mounted display and wired gloves, Ames Research Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Head-mounted_display_and_wired_gloves%2C_Ames_Research_Center.jpg)
A wired glove (also called a dataglove or cyberglove) is an
input device
In computing, an input device is a piece of equipment used to provide data and control signals to an information processing system, such as a computer or information appliance. Examples of input devices include keyboards, mouse, scanners, cameras ...
for
human–computer interaction
Human–computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI researchers observe the ways humans interact with computers and design tec ...
worn like a
glove
A glove is a garment covering the hand. Gloves usually have separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb.
If there is an opening but no (or a short) covering sheath for each finger they are called fingerless gloves. Fingerless glov ...
.
Various
sensor
A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon.
In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...
technologies are used to capture physical data such as bending of
finger
A finger is a limb of the body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of most of the Tetrapods, so also with humans and other primates. Most land vertebrates have five fingers ( Pentadactyly). Chambers ...
s. Often a motion tracker, such as a
magnetic
Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particle ...
tracking device
A tracking system, also known as a locating system, is used for the observing of persons or objects on the move and supplying a timely ordered sequence of location data for further processing. It is important to be aware of human tracking, fur ...
or
inertial tracking device, is attached to capture the global position/rotation data of the glove. These movements are then interpreted by the software that accompanies the glove, so any one movement can mean any number of things.
Gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or ot ...
s can then be categorized into useful information, such as to recognize
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
or other symbolic functions.
Expensive high-end wired gloves can also provide
haptic feedback, which is a simulation of the sense of touch. This allows a wired glove to also be used as an output device. Traditionally, wired gloves have only been available at a huge cost, with the finger bend sensors and the tracking device having to be bought separately.
Wired gloves are often used in
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
environments and to mimic human hand movement by robots.
History
The Sayre Glove, created by
Electronic Visualization Laboratory The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) is an interdisciplinary research lab and graduate studies program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, bringing together faculty, students and staff primarily from the Art and Computer Science depar ...
in 1977, was the first wired glove.
In 1982 Thomas G. Zimmerman filed a patent (US Patent 4542291) on an optical flex sensor mounted in a glove to measure finger bending. Zimmerman worked with
Jaron Lanier
Jaron Zepel Lanier (, born May 3, 1960) is an American computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, technologist, futurist, and composer of contemporary classical music. Considered a founder of the field of virtual reality, La ...
to incorporate ultrasonic and magnetic hand position tracking technology to create the Power Glove and Data Glove, respectively (US Patent 4988981, filed 1989). The optical
flex sensor
A flex sensor or bend sensor is a sensor that measures the amount of deflection or bending. Usually, the sensor is stuck to the surface, and resistance of sensor element is varied by bending the surface. Since the resistance is directly proportiona ...
used in the Data Glove was invented by Young L. Harvill who scratched the fiber near the finger joint to make it locally sensitive to bending.
One of the first wired gloves available to home users in 1987 was the Nintendo
Power Glove
The Power Glove is a controller accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Power Glove gained public attention due to its early virtual reality mechanics and significant marketing. However, its two games did not sell well, as it was ...
. This was designed as a gaming glove for the
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
. It had a crude tracker and finger bend sensors, plus buttons on the back. The resistive sensors in the PowerGlove were also used by hobbyists to create their own datagloves.
This was followed by the
CyberGlove, created by
Virtual Technologies, Inc. in 1990. Virtual Technologies was acquired by
Immersion Corporation
Immersion Corporation is an Aventura, Florida based developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, also known as haptic technology. Immersion Corporation has been accused of being a patent troll. Founded in 1993 by Louis Barry Rosenberg (sc ...
in September 2000. In 2009, the CyberGlove line of products was divested by Immersion Corporation and a new company, CyberGlove Systems LLC, took over development, manufacturing and sales of the CyberGlove.
In addition to the CyberGlove, Immersion Corp also developed three other data glove products: the CyberTouch, which vibrates each individual finger of the glove when a finger touches an object in virtual reality; the CyberGrasp which actually simulates squeezing and touching of solid as well as spongy objects; and the CyberForce device which does all of the above and also measures the precise motion of the user's entire arm.
![P5 in use](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/P5_in_use.jpg)
In 2002, the P5 Glove was released by Essential Reality (hardware designed by Johathan Clarke and Leigh Boyd). In normal applications, it worked as a two-dimensional mouse and a few computer games were specially adapted to provide "3D" support for it. The P5 glove is compatible with
Microsoft Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...
and the
classic Mac OS
Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. The ...
. Unofficial drivers for
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
exist as well. While it received some positive reviews from gadget and gaming magazines, its lack of compatible software and other issues caused it to remain a novelty. It has since been discontinued.
Following the P5 Glove is 5th Glove. A data glove and flexor strip kit (5th Glove DFK) sold by
Fifth Dimension Technologies
Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five.
Fifth or The Fifth may refer to:
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth"
* Fifth column, a political term
* Fifth disease, a contagious rash that ...
. The package uses flexible optical-bending sensing to track hand and arm movement. The glove can be used with 5DT's ultrasonic tracking system, the 5DT Head and 5DT Hand tracker, which can track movement from up to two metres away from the unit's transmitter.
Concerned about the high cost of the most complete commercial solutions, Pamplona et al. propose a new input device: an image-based data glove (IBDG). By attaching a camera to the hand of the user and a visual marker to each finger tip, they use computer vision techniques to estimate the relative position of the finger tips. Once they have information about the tips, they apply inverse kinematics techniques in order to estimate the position of each finger joint and recreate the movements of the fingers of the user in a virtual world. Adding a motion tracker device, one can also map pitch, yaw, roll and XYZ-translations of the hand of the user, (almost) recreating all the gesture and posture performed by the hand of the user in a low cost device.
A modern alternative to inertial, optical and magnetic technology is the use of stretch sensors. New Zealand company StretchSense has developed the first stretch sensor enabled motion capture glove called the MoCap Pro. Stretch sensors are silicone-based flexible
capacitor
A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.
The effect of ...
s that measure stretch, bend, shear and pressure changes. The data can then be streamed into software platforms such as
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...
,
Unity
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
* Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...
and
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...
to animate the hand of a virtual character.
Alternatives
An alternative to wired gloves is to use a camera and
computer vision
Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate tasks that the hum ...
to
track the 3D pose and trajectory of the hand, at the cost of tactile feedback.
Popular culture
The film adaptation of ''
Minority Report
Minority Report may refer to:
* Minority report (Poor Law), published by the UK Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905–09
* "Minority Report", a 1949 science fiction short story by Theodore Sturgeon
* "The Minority Report ...
'' makes use of wireless gloves to control futuristic computer-like peripherals.
The
Mattel Power Glove
The Power Glove is a controller accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Power Glove gained public attention due to its early virtual reality mechanics and significant marketing. However, its two games did not sell well, as it was ...
was prominently shown off in the Nintendo
product placement
Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...
film ''
The Wizard
Wizard, the wizard, or wizards may refer to:
* Wizard (fantasy), a fictional practitioner of magic
* Wizard (supernatural), a practitioner of magic
Art, entertainment and media Fictional characters
* Wizard (Archie Comics), a comic book supe ...
'', memorably wielded by antagonist Lucas Barton (
Jackey Vinson).
Academic and research projects
The concept of a wired glove has been traditionally popular in the research and engineering community. Engineers continue to develop prototypes that use innovative sensor technologies and architectures to achieve the goal of gesture recognition. For example, one such project is th
Smart Glove developed in 2009 by the then electronics engineering students Arvind Ramana, Subramanian KS, Suresh and Shiva. This project was an innovative design making interesting use of hall effect switches and custom home made bend sensors.
One major barrier to adoption of datagloves is sweat.
See also
*
Gesture recognition
Gesture recognition is a topic in computer science and language technology with the goal of interpreting human gestures via mathematical algorithms. It is a subdiscipline of computer vision. Gestures can originate from any bodily motion or sta ...
*
Hand-over
A Hand-Over is a term used in the animation industry to refer to the process of adding finger and hand motion capture data to the pre-existing full-body motion capture data, using a hand motion capture device.
Techniques
A Hand-Over is accomplis ...
*
Motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
*
Open-source robotics
Open-source robotics (OSR) is where the physical artifacts of the subject are offered by the open design movement. This branch of robotics makes use of open-source hardware and free and open-source software providing blueprints, schematics, and s ...
*
Project Digits
Project Digits is a Microsoft Research Project under Microsoft's computer science laboratory at the University of Cambridge; researchers from Newcastle University and University of Crete are also involved in this project. Project is led by David ...
*
Robotic arm
A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints ...
References
External links
Glove-based input interfaces
{{Mixed reality
Multimodal interaction
Computing input devices
Gloves
Virtual reality
Pointing devices
Game controllers
Haptic technology
History of human–computer interaction
Gesture recognition