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MIT’s sensor-packed glove helps AI identify objects by touch
Researchers have spent years trying to teach robots how to grip different objects without crushing or dropping them. They could be one step closer, thanks to this low-cost, sensor-packed glove. In a paper published in Nature, a team of MIT scientists share how they used the glove to help AI recognize objects through touch alone. That information could help robots better manipulate objects, and it may aid in prosthetics design.
Bebop's VR gloves are ready to enter the virtual world
How do you breach the divide between reality and the digital world without going full Lawnmower Man? (you never go Full Lawnmower Man). Bebop has been trying for a while, with its smart fabric that can measure pressure and bend to create digital gloves. This year, the outfit is back at CES with an updated version of the glove, and it felt time to give it another try to see what's improved.
NeoMano is an everyday robotic glove for patients with paralysis
Patients with spinal cord injuries, according to assistive technology company Neofect, face three major challenges navigating their day to day lives: opening and closing doors, brushing their teeth and picking up objects like a glass of water.
Mark Zuckerberg demos finger-tracking Oculus gloves
In a bid to keep folks excited about its Oculus virtual reality products, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off a bunch of new tech at the Oculus Research facility in Redmond, Washington. The most interesting prototype was a new set of gloves (above) that can "bring your hands into virtual and augmented reality," he wrote on a Facebook post. They could address one of the biggest user complaints about the Rift VR headset: the inability to easily interact with objects in virtual reality.
Magnets could soon track your fingers in virtual reality
In an ideal world, you'd grab objects in virtual reality with your hands, like you do in real life. However, that's not usually how it works -- outside of some specialized gloves, you're left using abstract controllers. Oculus and University of Washington researchers might make it a reality, though. They've developed Finexus, a control method that uses a combination of fingertip electromagnets and sensors to track your hands. The system detects the distances between each finger and the sensor, and uses the intersection of each distance to determine a given digit's exact 3D position. Unlike with camera tracking, you don't need a direct line of sight to the sensors for this to work -- you could tie your virtual shoelaces if you wanted.
ICYMI: Ramen by drone, creepy robot gloves and the week in sum
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-45672{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-45672, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-45672{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-45672").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A Caltech research team is studying a species of jellyfish to see if its ability to rearrange limbs when injured could be used by the robots of the future; a Harvard glove prototype could restore gripping abilities in people with disabilities, but man is it the creepiest, alien-looking glove we've ever seen. We're also including a great video of a ramen-making machine that has optional drone delivery; at which point we call bulls**t.
Prototype roboglove gives patients with weak grips a hand
For patients suffering from the effects of a stroke, ALS or muscular dystrophy, routine tasks like picking up a cup or grabbing a doorknob can be infuriatingly difficult. That's due to their lack of hand strength or fine motor control. However, this prototype "soft robotic" glove may soon restore their gripping abilities by doing the heavy squeezing for them. Developed by a research team at Harvard University, the glove is designed to augment the user's remaining hand strength and mobility. The device works by filling small water bladders located in each finger. When water from a reservoir on the wrist is pumped in, the fingers (and thumb) curl over in a grasping motion. Right now, that's all the glove is capable of doing. Still, that's enough for users to be able pick up and manipulate small objects they were not able to before.
The NES' Power Glove now doubles as a stop-motion video controller
Mattel's legendary-but-finicky Power Glove has been used for seemingly everything but playing Nintendo Entertainment System games as of late, and that trend isn't about to slow down in the wearable tech era. Witness animator Dillon Markey: he's using a heavily modified version of the glove to produce stop-motion TV shows like Robot Chicken. The newly Bluetooth-equipped controller lets him navigate his production software without having to carry a tethered remote or walk over to a PC, which is a big time-saver when it already takes minutes to perfect just a single frame of video. The augmented gauntlet also has retractable tweezers to manipulate tiny stop-motion figures, and there's even an Easter egg (we won't spoil it) that Markey can use to say how well his work is going. This isn't the best use of the Power Glove we've seen in showbiz (that honor will always go to Lucas in The Wizard, of course) but it's proof that there's still some life left in Nintendo's original motion control system.
MIT's new robot glove can give you extra fingers
Have you ever wondered if five fingers is really enough? The folks at MIT have. Researchers in the institute's department of mechanical engineering have created a robotic glove that adds two additional digits to the standard human claw, positioning two long fingers on either side of the hand. It's ridiculously easy to use, too. "You do not need to command the robot, but simply move your fingers naturally." Ford Professor of Engineering Harry Asada says. "Then the robotic fingers react and assist your fingers." The glove's movements are based on biomechanical synergy, the idea that each finger reacts to the movements of its peers - if you try to grasp a bottle, the glove's extra fingers will try to help.
High-tech gloves can teach you Braille even if you're distracted
It looks like a team of Georgia Tech researchers is in the business of making wondrous, high-tech gloves -- their most recent one, for instance, can teach you Braille even if you're doing something else. Similar to the piano-teaching glove they designed years ago, this new pair has vibrating motors on each knuckle that buzz in different patterns to correspond with preset Braille phrases. To test how well the gloves work, they asked volunteers during an experiment to play a game for 30 minutes while the motors buzz along with audio cues. When the subjects typed the phrases after half an hour, the researchers found their answers to be mostly accurate, with some even getting perfect scores.
These VR gloves will let you control Oculus and more for $350 (updated)
With the sale of Oculus Rift to Facebook for $2 billion, virtual reality has officially become very interesting for developers. One of the companies trying to ride that wave is Control VR, which is ready to launch its gesture control gloves on Kickstarter. Though VR gloves have been around for a long time, so far they've been prototypes, DIY projects or very pricey devices used for surgery, robotics and other specialized fields. Control VR is aiming wider, however, with an early backer price of $350. It believes it can hit that number using DARPA-designed microsensors which detect small inertial changes in order to finely track your arms, hands and fingers. That'll let you control virtual objects like game characters and 3D animations, or even physical devices like robots or military hardware.
Glove's new Android app finds the best cellphone carrier near you
Finding a reliable cellphone carrier is tricky when even a regional performance test can't prove that you'll get a good signal in your neighborhood. That's where Glove's new Android beta comes into play. The app monitors the areas where you use your phone the most, comparing them with crowdsourced quality reports; after three days, Glove will suggest the carrier with the best-rated service in those areas. Right now, the beta's US recommendations are limited to New York City and San Francisco, and only with the top four carriers. You'll also have to wait if you're looking for the iPhone version. Still, the software may prove a huge boon if you're thinking of switching providers.
SensoGlove revamp brings automatic pressure check, stops us from strangling our golf swing
Hand rookie golfers a driver and they'll frequently make the classic mistake of gripping the club as though their lives depend on it. A seasoned veteran knows that a little give and take might be needed, which is why Sensosolutions just updated its long-serving SensoGlove to better encourage a balanced hold. The new automatic sensitivity toggle will offer a recommended grip through the LCD based on how tightly the club has been held in the past; throttle the 9 iron often and you'll be asked to loosen up. Longer battery life is also in the cards versus the older model, although we're reaching out to determine how many more holes the glove will handle in one charge. No matter how you slice (or hook) it, the newer SensoGlove is shipping for $89 in versions for both hands and multiple sizes.
Hi-Fun's call-receiving Bluetooth gloves, hands-in (video)
Sometimes the most fascinating bits from a tradeshow come from those booth in between major manufacturers, and while we're certainly not claiming that the Hi-Call is "the best product at IFA" as its spokesperson suggested to us with a smile, they're nothing if not interesting. Hi-Fun's gloves are Bluetooth headsets -- or, well, handsets -- with the speaker built into the thumb and the mic in the pinky, so you can talk by doing the traditional "call me" hand gesture. Pairing is simple enough for anyone who's done the process on a more traditional headset -- the button is built into the top of the glove, along with a button to end the call. We took the gloves for a spin, as you can see in the video below, calling the rep's very confused boss. In spite of turning up the handset volume as loud as possible, we had a lot of trouble actually hearing something on the showfloor -- and the fellow on the other end seemed to be having similar issues, leading to quite probably the first time I've ever used the phrase "I'm sorry, I can't hear you, I'm talking into a glove." Hi-Call will be out in the beginning of October, just in time for the cold weather. It'll run you a not particularly cheap €49 for the pleasure of speaking into your pinky. Video evidence after the break.
Glove Tricorder helps train doctors, may lead to DIY cancer screening
It may look like an early prototype of the Power Glove, but this wearable "tricorder" is not only less embarrassing than the doomed Nintendo peripheral -- it's also quite a bit more advanced technologically. This second prototype of the medical gadget is home to a veritable arsenal of sensors, including an accelerometer, pressure and temperature modules. Eventually, Med Sensation hopes to place ultrasound pads on the fingertips, allowing physicians to peer inside the body while they poke and prod in an attempt to diagnose you. At the moment, the system is better suited for providing feedback -- guiding trainees in the proper techniques for giving exams. Ultimately though, the hope is to put these in (or would that be on?) the hands of average Joes and Janes. Individuals could then check for lumps or enlarged organs at home, without having to spend half the day sitting in a waiting room. For a brief demonstration, check out the video after the break.
Google grabs glove-based input patent, could spell out gesture control
Google might have already patented some nifty eye-tracking controls, but that doesn't mean it isn't considering other sensory input. A recently granted patent hints at a potential glove-based controller, with references to a pair of detectors that record "images" of an environment, and then determine gestures based on the calculated movement between them. The illustrations go on to show a hand drawing out the letter J, indicating it could be used for text input, while another suggests recognition of pinch-to-zoom style gestures. There's no mention of its fancy glasses in the patent, but we're thinking a glove to control the Nexus 7 might be a bit overkill.
Vibrating glove gives piano lessons, helps rehab patients regain finger sensation and motor skills
We've seen a good number of electronic gloves before, and now researchers at Georgia Tech have devised one to rehabilitate patients who suffer from paralyzing spinal cord injuries while teaching them how to tickle the ivories. Christened Mobile Music Touch, the black mitt pairs with a keyboard and cues individual fingers with vibrations to play notes. The handgear also buzzes constantly for several hours to stimulate recovery while users go about their day, similar to another yellowjacket-developed solution. After treatment, some patients could pick up objects and feel textures they hadn't been able to -- especially remarkable since, according to the university, little improvement is typically seen a year after injuries are sustained. Folks who learned to play the piano with the device also experienced better results than those who did without it. Project leader Dr. Tanya Markow believes that the rehab's success could be caused by renewed brain activity that sometimes lies dormant. For the full skinny, head past the break for the press release and a video of the gauntlet in action. [Thanks, Timothy]
G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. trades in keyboard and touchscreen typing for sweaty hands (video)
Between touchscreens and physical keyboards, you'd thing that handset manufacturers have most of their bases covered. Given the fact that the G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. isn't even the first glove keyboard we've seen, it seems safe to assume that there's some cold-handed portion of the populace that just isn't satisfied with their current options. Jake Liu's solution is the Generally Accessible Universal Nomadic Tactile Low-power Electronic Typist, a wireless glove keyboard that connects to mobile devices via Bluetooth, letting you type by touching your thumb to your fingers. The gloves, created when Liu was a student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, have the corresponding letters printed on the fingers, with Enter, Backspace, Space and Function on the thumbnails, the latter of which allows you to switch between different keymaps like numbers and symbols. There's also an accelerometer built into the Minority Report-inspired peripherals for added functionality. Check out a quick video demo of the clove in action, after the break.
ATLAS bimanual-rehabilitation glove system hands-on (video)
The Squid Shirt that we checked out earlier today at Northeastern University certainly has the potential for healthcare use beyond straight off-season workout sessions, but the ATLAS project is an even purer expression of that application. The name is an acronym for the rather unwieldy Angle Tracking and Location At home System. In short, the system is a bimanual-rehabilitation glove system, a tracking device that utilizes two gloves to monitor the hand movements of stroke victims. The "Home System," part of the name, meanwhile, signifies its creators' intention to eventually release the ATLAS as an at-home testing system, allowing users to get more regular readings than industrial versions. The system is comprised of two standard black gloves -- the first version (it's currently on version three), assistant academic specialist Mark Sivak tells us, was comprised of gold lycra gloves. The gloves have bend sensors in each finger and internal measurement sensors on the back of the hand. The bend sensors are anchored on the back of the hand, located beneath a moveable flap. They're embedded in the glove, running down each finger. The hand orientation inertial sensor is comprised of an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer located on a box strapped to the top of the glove. The bend sensors feed straight into a box with an Arduino Mega inside, while the inertial sensors first pass through their own Arduino microcontrollers before rejoining the data feed back to the PC.%Gallery-158061%
Ben Heck makes Super Glove mod for Kinect, takes strain out of gestures (video)
Sick of trying to control your 360 using Kinect, semaphore and advanced flailing? Modgod Ben Heck, deciding he wanted to be more Minority Report and less lunatic, has been working on Power Glove 2.0 to improve the console's navigation experience. The prototype glove is tricked out with Arduino, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and some fingertip buttons. With the addition of IR and a little coding magic, the 360's interface can be controlled via subtle gestures, with increased functionality / style points also apparent. Check out the latest episode of The Ben Heck Show after the break for a detailed walkthrough of the project and a demo of the glove in action.
