Where Can you Purchase Data Glooves? 14
dev0 asks: "I have been spending some time looking for data gloves with no success - and I had been thinking they existed already. About the best things I have found so far are from Fifth Dimension Techonologies. However this does not seem to be bulk stuff. What I would like to do is to find something with open specs, and cheap price. One thing that I have been planning to do, is to do a virtual keyboard for my PDA. So that I can hit a real-size virtual keyboard in air and type faster. Who really needs to see the buttons? Hints, anyone?"
Glooves are hard to find this time of year (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hmm... (Score:1)
It shouldn't be to hard to adapt it to be used as a mouse, should it?
Hmm...but would I be willing to sacrifice mine in the name of science? I think not.
Re:Hmm... (Score:2)
Re:Hmm... (Score:2)
I just finished interfacing my old Nintendo Powerglove to an HC11 based miniboard, [mit.edu]so I can use it to control a Holonomic Killough Platform, [hmc.edu] loosely based on the Palm Pilot Robot Kit [cmu.edu]
I like the powerglove over a conventional joystick, because it's pretty easy to interface, and it supplies a large amount of data - X,Y, and Z coordinates, roll data, finger positions, and the 16 keys on the keypad (which usefully send data as if they were a hex keypad, even though they aren't laid out that way).
I have most of the parts I need, including the wheels, and I just finished modifying some cheap servos for continuous motion. Unfortunately, the wheels I bought weren't really designed to be driven, so I'm going to have to find a way to attach the motors. The Palm Pilot Robot kit just uses glue, but since the servos weren't really designed to take the lateral stresses that will be imposed by gluing them to the wheels and making them act as as a suspension system, I'm hoping to work out something a bit more robust.
The only problem I forsee is having to be tethered to the robot in order to control it (it'll eventually be autonomous and won't require a tether, though I plan to still be able to control it with a tether.) I think I'm leaning towards a cheap RF [glolab.com] solution, so I can sit at the computer, and control the robot wirelessly.
Just another geek hobby (and ALL of the technology I'm using so far, with the possible exception of the wheels, is from the '80s).
OH - and there's no sacrifice necessary - I haven't had to modify the glove at all, and am not really planning to.
I need a pair of regular glooves (Score:2)
Can't find a gloove shop anywhere.
Where to find them... (Score:2)
If you want "pro" quality - expect to pay "pro" prices: ie, $1000.00 and up - this will be for a glove alone, mind you. 3D tracking tech will add to the cost, starting at around $1000.00 (give or take a few hundred) for magnetic tech (AC or DC pulsed), but since you say you want to use this with a PDA, I assume you won't need this, and only want flex sensors.
Will you need abduction sensing (ie, the fingers and thumb both flex, as well as move sideways, allowing for the lovely "Spock" gesture - this sideways motion is called "abduction")? If so, add a lot more to the cost of the glove - this kind of sensing is tough to do. It sounds like you might, if you want to do regular typing, and not "chording".
5DT sell good tech, but expensive - not really a great money-saver for a homebrew project. Hacking together a power-glove interface might be possible (I have done a simple parallel port one for my computer), but the power-glove can be difficult to find, though you might check Ebay (look for "Power Glove", note the space, as well as "Powerglove"). If you find one, you might try removing the flex sensors from the glove, and sewing them onto a lycra glove, for lighter weight and ease of use. The sensors are simple resistive flex sensors, you could probably build a simple interface for them instead of using the Powerglove's system, which is bulky. If you need abduction, you could place sensors between the fingers as well.
Also, go to my website. I have a lot of links that you might find useful - though they are a bit out of date, and I need to update them badly - very badly... In my Cheap VR Issue 2 [phoenixgarage.org] I discuss how to build an optical style flex sensor glove cheaply, which you might find helpful.
Finally, think about this - there was (is?) a company out there that sold a glove that had simple metal bits sewn in, that when touched together completed circuits (I think it was called the Pinch Glove or somthing). This kind of system would be easy to homebrew - just don't try to sell it or claim it as your own tech, etc (you know, the whole IP bit). Simple buttons or rivets could be but on the tips of the fingers, wires soldered on, some added to the palm of the hand - add some switch debouncing, and a simple custom programmed PIC or Basic Stamp, connected to a serial interface (Max-232) - and there you go - instant gesture recognition system!
Finally, a word about your statement:
So that I can hit a real-size virtual keyboard in air and type faster. Who really needs to see the buttons?
Actually, try "typing" for a length of time with you arm in the air, and you will see why doing any "virtual" movement hasn't really caught on:
It is tiring.
Indeed, the best way to type virtually, so that you wouldn't tire, would be to simply keep the arms in a "rest" position, hanging at the side of your body.
One reason this tends to be tiring is that there is nothing to work against, like on a real keyboard, or in the case of VR manipulation of objects; a real object that has weight. We, as humans, like to rest our body parts as we work, which is why not many of us work for long periods standing all the time (and which is why being a store cashier really sucks). It is why we have chairs, etc.
I suggest you look into chording keyboard systems, and apply this tech to a "pinch" style glove - such a "keyboard" would actually be very useful in a real world "wearable computing" situation...
How about... (Score:1)
I've been considering a mobile-platform for a while... essentially a full-powered back-pack pc.
Among several problem spots (goggles/headset displays are expensive, how to power the system for a significant amount of time, and static grounding), I was wondering how I was going to control it.
I'd been hell-bent on glove control. After much thought, I decided you could pull off the glove interface, and do it cheap. But how about lateral finger movment?
You dont use it. Restrict the movement to only three positions for each finger (ie, as if you were manning the keypad from mechwarrior 2) this gives you 16 per hand (4 fingers x three positions plus two thumb functions for one hand). Exactly 26. Tadaa! One Keyboard (well, letters only and no spacebar)
Now what to do about the remaining digit: the dominant thumb: I'd set the thumb on one to control a analog stick/trackball and four-five buttons (it is a mobile application, afterall) and not have it's motions picked up by the glove.
Button layout would be as follows: Click, Right Click, Spacebar, Shift (maybe) and "Function".
The Function key enables the numeric keypad for one hand (like these guys [halfkeyboard.com] did for half of their keyboard), and punctuation&other keys for the other
It'd be akward until you got the hang of it, but it accomplishes what you're looking for and more.
-Senine