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3D Glove Input Device
Elyjah writes: "A company called Essential Reality is devloping a 3D Glove input device. They have several demo movies you can watch (if you have Quicktime). The movies show the glove being displayed by runway models (this is amusing), being used in several FPS games, being used as an interface to a a 3D graphics development tool (this looks really cool), and being used with a music application. While truely usable devices like this are probably several years off, it is fun to see what is being worked on."
(no one's tried to hack this for the Linux ... yet).
:-)
r s/ linux-powerglove.README
/ linux-powerglove.tgz
I do believe you're wrong...
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/hardware/drive
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/hardware/drivers
http://www.cms.dmu.ac.uk/~cph/menelli.html
These links are the README, driver files, and schematic for the Menelli box interface (Which looks a LOT like the one mentioned in your links) for the PowerGlove...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
How did they get around the VPL/Mattell patents?
For those that don't know, VPL made the VPL DataGlove, back in the early 90's. They also worked with Mattel to create the Nintendo PowerGlove. Unfortunately, their patent on using a glove-type input device kinda locked everything up - very few ways around the patent have ever been found. Most alternative glove input methods have been either klunky (one is a very intricate mechanical waldo like device that is fitted to the hand and uses hall-effect sensors to gauge the angle of the joints - very accurrate, but also hard to put on and take off, and expensive - not that the VPL DataGlove was cheap), or focused on other methods (such as detecting fingers touching together, rather than finger angles).
The only thing I can figure is that they either bought the patent rights, or are licensing them. Either way, I would much rather see a glove based on the fiber optic technology of VPL, rather than the flexible stress sensors the PowerGlove uses (and it does look like that is what they are using)...
If anyone wants more info on glove devices, etc for VR and such (PowerGlove interfacing to PC, etc), check out my website...
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Until that's done, this doesn't seem much more impressive than Nintendo's Powerglove (which was cool, but didn't really do wonders for the game playing experience IMHO).
For more on various glove interfaces, see this page
MacWorld has an article up here. It goes over the glove being used in Mac OS X, and other novel ideas...
How Jaded Are You?
Finally a 3-D glove! I've had such a tough time fitting my hands into the 2-D variety...
I think that a real breakthrough for this sort of device would be a haptic output. When you touch a virtual object, you should be able to feel it.
With some cleverly placed muscle wires (these wires lengthen and contract according to the voltage applied), the glove could provide resistance when you touch a virtual object.
Acutally, if there were different muscle wires in each finger of the glove, and a 3-d tracking system were employed, then the user could feel a large "object" as their hand moves through the air. (i.e. a bump in the surface is felt by whichever finger happens to be at it's cooridnates).