Gloves with sensors and haptics enhance hand tracking
Smart fabric sensor technology is used in the Forte wireless data glove by BeBop Sensors, which incorporates haptics and rapid sensing. It can be used in a variety of applications, including wearable, industrial, sports training, automotive, medical, military, outdoor wear, virtual reality, gaming and musical instruments.
The Forte data glove is claimed to be the first hand tracking system to accurately and rapidly track fingers and fingertips with haptics to sense finger movements and quickly send tactile feedback to the fingertips.
The glove’s sensors operate at speeds of 500Hz and the data rates at 150 frames per second, eliminating lag for near instantaneous response times, claims BeBop, particularly suitable for the most demanding gaming applications.
There are 10 smart fabric bend sensors located above each knuckle with bend accuracy and repeatability at ± 1.5 degrees.
A nine degree inertial measurement units (IMUs) provide low drift and reliable pre-blended accelerometer and gyro sensor data. Six actuators are located on four fingertips, the thumb, and the palm. There are also up to 64 haptic sound files on the glove; new files can be rapidly uploaded over Bluetooth or Micro USB. The Micro USB connector charges the internal lithium battery in two hours for a 15 hours battery life.
BeBop Sensors will be exhibiting at CES 2019 (8 to 12 January 2019), stand 50908, Eureka Park, Hall G, level 1, Las Vegas, USA.
