Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

RallyPoint — The Computerized Combat Glove

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the handling-the-situation dept.

MIT's Technology Review is reporting that a new input device, designed for soldiers, may soon be making an appearance. The "RallyPoint," a glove designed to allow soldiers to easily interact with wearable systems via sensors, could allow soldiers a feature-rich input device without having to put down their weapon. "Some U.S. soldiers in Iraq are already equipped with wearable computer systems. But the lack of efficient input devices restricts their use to safer environments, such as the interior of a Humvee or a base station, where the soldier can set down his weapon and use the keyboard or mouse tethered to his body. Now RallyPoint, a startup based in Cambridge, MA, has developed a sensor-embedded glove that allows the soldier to easily view and navigate digital maps, activate radio communications, and send commands without having to take his hand off his weapon."

15 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Soldiers spend most of their time bored and waiting. You know what that glove is really going to be used for.

  2. Power Glove by dgaller · · Score: 4, Funny

    I love the Power Glove. It's *so* bad.

  3. when is it too much ? by Brigadier · · Score: 2, Insightful



    What happened to the days when you told a soldier where to be and who to shoot ? Technology is great and everything, but when your packing this solder down with all this extra equipment. Not to mention forcing him to learn these new complicated systems, at what point does it cease effectiveness. Give him a good weapon, that is light, and that wont fail. Give him a good flap jacket, then give him a good dependable communication device. One that prompts him based on his location, and mission. ie if you turn left instead of right it tells you without the need for some expensive device.

    1. Re:when is it too much ? by ch-chuck · · Score: 2, Informative

      Flap Jacket? What, one of these?

      How about a flak jacket?

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    2. Re:when is it too much ? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What happened to the days when you told a soldier where to be and who to shoot ?

      Seriously? The complexities of warfare changed. People no long show up in parallel lines and keep shooting at one another until one side mostly kills the other. The other side rarely shows up an the appointed place any more.

      Modern warfare involves people who don't announce their location, forces comprised of several (hopefully) cooperating forces, and a need to try to coordinate more facets. Calling in air strikes, keeping track of your own friendlies, your own location, and other things which change in the battlefield is a lot of stuff. Most conflicts nowadays are asymmetric -- you got big groups of well organized people fighting smaller groups who pop up and then disappear. With coalitions of militaries, fratricide can happen all too easy (and does).

      Technology is great and everything, but when your packing this solder down with all this extra equipment. Not to mention forcing him to learn these new complicated systems, at what point does it cease effectiveness.

      When the people field testing it tell you, in all likelihood. People are trying to give them more information to be more effective at doing their job. How successful and given piece of kit is hard to predict. If it truly proves to be a burden during exercises, it likely gets scrapped.

      Give him a good weapon, that is light, and that wont fail. Give him a good flap jacket, then give him a good dependable communication device. One that prompts him based on his location, and mission. ie if you turn left instead of right it tells you without the need for some expensive device.

      Well, weapons, they got. Flak jackets, they got (unless you meant something made out of pancakes. ;-), they got too. But, how do you give someone something which is capable of knowing where you are, what direction you're supposed to be going in, and all that other neat-o stuff without it being an expensive piece of gear? (At a minimum, a hardened GPS unit is likely not a cheap item. Consumer grade stuff is likely not suitable for military duty.)

      Basically, the more of an advantage you can give your guys, the more you keep them alive and able to continue doing what they do. If you can improve your situational awareness, you get better odds of doing that.

      Cheers
      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:when is it too much ? by vertinox · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not to mention forcing him to learn these new complicated systems, at what point does it cease effectiveness.

      Swords were simpler than muskets.
      Muskets were simpler than bolt action rifles.
      Bolt action rifles were simpler than automatic weapons and so on...

      If you want a real world scenario I think the best would be the designated radio man in German Panzers on the onset of WWII. Radios were complicated and you actually had to train a fellow very well to not understand and maintain the equipment but the language used was also very complicated to learn and understand. Other nations like France and Russia felt this was unneeded and had their tanks communicate line of sight with flags and flares.

      However as history has shown us the German tanks (at least in the early parts of the war) bested both French and Russian tanks due to their superior coordination and fire control even though the early German tanks were often fielded smaller guns and thinner armor.

      Seeing this success US, Russia, and the British quickly adapted radios for all their armored vehicles and were able to beat the Germans at their own game of blitzkreig.

      The point is that if you do specialize in technologies that enhance communication and coordination that you will beat opponents that lack that technology even though they may have superior firepower and numbers.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  4. New key signals by javakah · · Score: 3, Funny

    Squeezing with your trigger finger is the new Alt-F4!

    1. Re:New key signals by mtakil · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah. When you "give the finger" its Ctrl-Alt-Del

  5. Re:I'm sorry by zappepcs · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, and it makes you wonder... a glove with sensors? hmmmm wonder what flying the bird will blow up? oh oh oh, can they make like a toy gun with their fingers and shoot at stuff and have the .50 call on top of the humv fire?

    This could be fun... point your finger for a few seconds of lead on target, then flip a bird and watch the RPGs go flying?

    --
    Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
  6. Works Great by jmkaza · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I did something similar this winter. I discovered that an iPod Shuffle fits perfectly in my snowboarding glove, and was able to easily navigate through my collection on the move. No more stopping, taking a glove off, pulling my iPod out, finding a song, then putting everything back together again. Four push button sensors could easily provide a great detail of capability with extremely limited encumbrance.

  7. Gloves, in the desert. by khasim · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With electronic sensors in them.

    Sweat and grime will destroy them faster than they can make them.

  8. Sure... by superdan2k · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...and as a former soldier, let me just say that when your UI works without me taking my eyes off my environment, then I'll be interested. Lack of data is survivable. Lack of attention isn't.

    --
    blog |
    1. Re:Sure... by swillden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Lack of data may be survivable. Lack of attention isn't.

      Fixed that for you.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    2. Re:Sure... by Stickney · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Are you kidding me?! In a firefight, you "focus" your attention on as much as you can take in at once. All the intelligence in the world doesn't matter if you can't see the people shooting at you from 30, 50, 100 meters away. You should _never_ focus your attention on just one "critical point" if you want to survive. Situational awareness means that you know _everything_ that is going on around you, which you can't do if you're staring at a monitor with your fingers on a keyboard.

      As a side note, I've never had intelligence tell me anything I didn't already know about the "critical point". That decision gets made on the ground, at the front. For the commander, sitting at his FBCB2 terminal in the FOB or BC2S terminal on his command bird, you may be right. But for the soldier holding the M16 with his computer attached to his body, you're way off. This is a tactical device we're talking about, not a strategic computer.

      --
      ...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
  9. Okay, I'll bite. by NotBornYesterday · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Everyone here seems to be panning this thing. I'm waiting to see what happens when this expensive military tech becomes more cost-effective, slimmed-down, and works its way into the civilian marketplace.

    Imagine a glove like this that would talk to your car via bluetooth so you could manipulate anything on the dashboard, from radio to GPS nav system without taking eyes off the road and hands off the wheel.

    Imagine a worker in a manufacturing plant controlling robots and assembly lines from a computer he wears as he walks around the shop floor - no need for a workstation in one fixed location. Or picture a scientist in the field taking notes on a wearable computer.

    The possibilities are endless. Of course, this being slashdot, the porn jokes are endless too.

    --
    I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.