CyberGlove (TM)

The CyberGlove (TM) is a low-profile, lightweight glove with flexible sensors which accurately and repeatably measure the position and movement of the fingers and wrist. The award-winning design uses the latest in high-precision joint-sensing technology and is state-of-the-art in instrumented gloves.

The CyberGlove is available in two models and for either hand. The 18-sensor model features two bend sensors on each finger, four abduction sensors, plus sensors measuring thumb crossover, palm arch, wrist flexion and wrist abduction. The 22-sensor model adds sensors to measure the flexion of the distal joints on the four fingers.

The CyberGlove features Virtual Technologies' patented resistive bend-sensing technology that is linear and robust. The sensors are extremely thin and flexible and produce almost undetectable resistance to bending. Since the sensors exhibit low sensitivity to their positioning over finger joints and to the joints' radii of curvature, each CyberGlove provides high quality measurements for a wide range of hand sizes, and ensures repeatability between wearings. Calibrations typically need not be updated, even after months of use.

The CyberGlove is constructed with stretch fabric for comfort and a mesh palm for ventilation. The 18-sensor CyberGlove includes open fingertips, which allow the user to type, write and grasp objects while wearing the glove.

The basic CyberGlove system includes one CyberGlove, its instrumentation unit, a serial cable to connect to your host computer, and an executable version of our VirtualHand (TM) graphic hand model display and calibration software.

Many applications require measurement of the position and orientation of the forearm in space. To accomplish this, mounting provisions for Polhemus and Ascension 6DOF (six degrees-of-freedom) tracking sensors are available for the glove wristband. Tracking sensors are not included in the basic CyberGlove system, but are available as an option from Virtual Technologies and are supported in the VirtualHand software.

The CyberGlove has a software programmable switch and LED on the wristband to permit the system software developer to provide the CyberGlove wearer with additional input/output capability.

The instrumentation unit provides a variety of convenient functions and features including time-stamp, CyberGlove status, external sampling synchronization and analog sensor outputs.

Applications: virtual reality, telerobotics, task training, medicine, CAD, sign language recognition, video games, graphical character animation, music generation, hand-function analysis, and many others.

Price: U.S. $9800 (for U.S. end-users)

Specifications

  • Sensor Linearity: 0.62% maximum nonlinearity over full range of hand motion.

  • Sensor Resolution: 0.5 degrees; remains constant over the entire range of joint motion.

  • Repeatability Between Glove Wearings: Standard deviation of typically 1 degree.

  • Off-Axis Bending: Sensors respond primarily to bend about the single desired sensor axis.

  • Interface: RS-232 with selectable baud rates up to 115.2 kbaud. Analog output also provided.

  • Update Rate: Up to 112 records/sec when filtered (18 sensor records). Up to 149 records/sec when unfiltered. Preset sample period or polled I/O. (Higher rates possible when fewer sensors are enabled).

    Physical Characteristics

    Item Dimensions Weight
    CyberGlove One size fits most 3.0 oz
    Instrumentation Unit 10.00" x 6.25" x 2.75" 27.0 oz
    Power Supply (USA) 4.36" x 3.10" x 2.28" 2.5 lb
    Power Supply (Europe) 6.30" x 3.82" x 2.66" 3.5 lb

    Power Requirements

    Model # Prongs Volts Frequency Power
    USA 3 120V 60Hz 2.5W
    Europe 2 220V 50Hz 2.5W

    CyberGlove (TM) Pictures

  • 18-Sensor CyberGlove and Instrumentation Unit. (79kb)
  • Pair of 18-Sensor CyberGloves. (126kb)

    CyberGlove (TM) Video

  • 18-Sensor CyberGlove and VirtualHand Software library (73Mb)



    VirtualHand® Library

    The VirtualHand® software utilizes the CyberGlove (TM) joint sensor data to calculate and display a graphical hand (52kb) on a computer screen which accurately reproduces the movements of the actual hand and fingers. It includes both a high-resolution, 2500 polygon Gouraud-shaded hand model and a lower resolution, 325 polygon hand model. An executable copy is included in the basic CyberGlove system. An object code library is available for Silicon Graphics workstations as a developer's option.

    The VirtualHand library will save the application programmer months of precious development time by providing a set of important CyberGlove hand model calculation, display, calibration, data acquisition and 3D tracking "C" functions.

    Price: U.S. $1800 (for U.S. end-users)



    GesturePlus (TM)

    GesturePlus (TM) is an easy-to-use gesture recognition system which uses joint measurements from a Virtual Technologies CyberGlove (TM) instrumented glove to recognize user-defined hand formations. During a simple training procedure, the GesturePlus system learns to associate the user's hand formations with the output symbols of the user's choice. GesturePlus allows the user to define large customized gesture vocabularies for his/her applications, such as the 26 hand formations needed for the American fingerspelling alphabet. After training, the system is ready to use, outputting the recognized symbol whenever the user makes the corresponding hand formation.

    GesturePlus interfaces as a hardware device connected to a host computer via an RS-232 serial port. The GesturePlus system performs all the CPU-intensive calculations needed for its state-of-the-art gesture recognition algorithm, freeing up the host computer to manage a virtual reality (VR) application or analyze data. The interface to GesturePlus is a set of simple commands which are executed by the user's application to initialize and run the recognition. GesturePlus also allows applications to retrieve the raw joint angles from a CyberGlove while recognizing gestures, so a graphical hand model can be displayed simultaneously.

    GesturePlus provides hand-based control input for applications in such diverse areas as virtual reality, computer operating systems, task training, music generation, telerobotics and sign language recognition.

    Shipping begins November 1st, 1995, so order now.

    Special introductory price: U.S. $3500 (for U.S. end-users) (CyberGlove sold seperately.)



    Specifications

    Maximum number of gestures 254
    Error Rate, Typical
    (100 training samples/gesture; 26 gestures)
    1%
    Host communication RS-232 serial
    Maximum Data rate 115.2 kbaud
    Maximum recognition rate 138 gestures/sec
    Maximum additional sensor latency
    (18 sensor glove, not including transmission delay to host)
    1.8 msec
    Height 13" (33.0 cm)
    Width 7" (17.8 cm)
    Depth 16" (40.6 cm)
    Weight 18 lb (8.2 kg)