Contact surfaces on the pinch gloves.
David Krum
CS 6751 Winter 1999
February 19, 1999
Fakespace Pinch Gloves
One of the many input devices developed for virtual reality was the Dataglove. These and similar input devices used sensors to determine the position of each joint in the hand and fingers. This was meant to provide recognition of gestures by the computer, allowing very natural input. However, there are many problems with Datagloves. The accuracy and precision of these sensors is limited. This is a large problem considering the flexibility and articulation possible in the hand. Calibration is also difficult. Furthermore, users can only remember a limited number of gestures. Pinch gloves were developed as a simpler and cheaper alternative.
A pinch glove recognizes contacts between fingertips. Conductive patches on the palm and each finger complete circuits when pinched together. An interface box transforms these contacts into a simple RS232 protocol to be read by a computer's serial port. Tracking of the gloves is usually done by adding Polhemus or Ascension electromagnetic trackers to the fingertip or back of the glove.
Using tracked pinch gloves allows the manipulation of 3D virtual objects on display devices like the Virtual Workbench. They could also be used with Head Mounted Displays. They would probably not be very useful for 2D manipulation since most 2D interfaces also require the use of a keyboard. The gloves make typing on a keyboard awkward.
Contact surfaces on the pinch gloves. |
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Manipulating objects with tracked pinch gloves on the Virtual Workbench. |
Related Websites:
Fakespace (http://www.fakespace.com)
Fakespace Pinch Gloves (http://www.fakespace.com/prod-pnch.html)
Fakespace Immersive Workbench (http://www.fakespace.com/prod-IWB.html)
Tracking Equipment Manufacturers
