Glove powered by soft robotics to interact with virtual reality environments
Other research teams and industry have worked on gloves as VR interfaces. But these are bulky and made from heavy materials, such as metal. The glove the engineers developed has a soft exoskeleton equipped with soft robotic muscles that make it much lighter and easier to use.
"This is a first prototype but it is surprisingly effective," said Michael Tolley, a mechanical engineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego and also a senior author.
The system involves three main components: a Leap Motion sensor that detects the position and movement of the user's hands; a custom fluidic control board that controls the gloves' movements; and soft robotic components in the glove that individually inflate or deflate to mimic the forces that the user would encounter in the VR environment. The system interacts with a computer that displays a virtual piano keyboard with a river and trees in the background.
Watch a video of the glove in action here: https://youtu.be/gCka1qsD4q8
See the full story here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170530140713.htm