Swiss Scientists Present a “Smart Glove”

The stretchable electronic glove performs superbly in gesture recognition, operates even in complete darkness and is cheap to manufacture.

The developers’ main idea was to create a device that detects movement using tactile sensors that record silicone layer deformations, rather than visual sensors. There are 44 such sensors attached to the soft fabric base of the glove that capture every single movement of the fingers.

Data are processed by a special unit, which the sensors are connected to. Despite all the electronics, the glove is pleasantly comfortable to wear. The technology implemented in the glove works even in complete darkness. The gadget’s power consumption is minimal and its components are cheap to manufacture.

The glove’s weak point is that it cannot capture the movements of the rest of the body, and therefore it is not able to recognize which direction a user is pointing at. In the future, the innovation will be beneficial for augmented and virtual reality systems. A full-fledged presentation of the glove will take place at SIGGRAPH 2019 conference, which will be held in Los Angeles at the end of this month.