By Kyle Ellington
A newly developed glove promises to advance the tech significantly by getting real physical movement accurately depicted in the digital world. It’s able to capture hand movements with much more detail and distinction than most.
The researchers behind the creation of the glove created a silicone compound holding 44 embedded stretch sensors, combining it with a soft fabric layer. The device requires uses a special constructed set of algorithms to process the sensor data coming through and from the gloved hand.
This means highly accurate hand and finger movements can be captured in real time. No external cameras or sensors are needed to record the movements, and the gloves themselves can be manufactured at a low cost. They’re also lightweight and comfortable to wear too.
“This is an already well-studied problem but we found new ways to address it in terms of the sensors employed in our design and our data-driven model,” Oliver Glauser from ETH Zurich in Switzerland said in a press statement.
He also added that it took expertise from various fields, including material science, fabrication, electrical engineering, computer graphics, and machine learning.
The glove can still capture movements even when the hand is holding something, the researchers say, and because of the configuration of its sensors, it can work in all kinds of lighting conditions too. No cameras involved, the glove doesn’t need to be well lit or within a line of sight.
Aside from giving you more accuracy on your next virtual reality adventure, the glove could have applications in robotics, the biomedical industry, and augmented reality.
As of now it cannot track a hand in 3D space, only the movements of the fingers. While the glove knows you’re pointing, it won’t know which direction you’re pointing in.
This invention will most likely need to work in conjunction with other technology to provide a complete solution.
The idea that a glove can help enhance real physical interaction in the digital world can really help with any designs. Since real world scenes are augmented with computer graphics this can help with more detailed designs that people come up with.
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