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)
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.
U.S. $3500 (for U.S. end-users) (CyberGlove sold seperately.)
Specifications
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
CyberGlove (TM) Video
VirtualHand® Library
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)