Wearable Tech 8: Gadget Gloves

The Thimble

Finger glove worn on the index finger, equipped with an optical scanner on its tip.

To read information, the wearer moves the index finger over the matter to be read which is scanned and connects through Bluetooth to mobile phones.

Created by Erik Hedberg and Zack Bennet.

Wearable Instrument

Kickstarter project that takes playing air trumpet to a new level. Mimic playing the instrument of your choice with your fingers.

MIDI output communicates with audio editing software to produce the output sound.

Glove One wearable communication device

This prototype has the keypad along the fingers, and the SIM card gets inserted into a compartment at the middle of the hand.

Speakers and microphone installed at index and little finger. Make the hand signal for talking on the phone whilst using.

The fingers contain fixings to give the wearer plenty of freedom and flexibility to move his or her hand around whilst wearing the glove.

Xbee Ninja wireless gloves

The Lilypad Xbee sewn into these gloves along with a battery and LED turns these gloves into wireless systems that communicate morse code to each other.

Touch Glove

Gives users visual feedback based on tactile information. Touch sensations are translated into light patterns on the wrist of each glove.

Created by Ally Seely

Supersense fingertips

Electronic fingers moulded to users hand and transmit electric signals to the skin for potential uses in medical procedures.

Air Mouse glove

Wearable mouse that can be controlled through hand gestures. Three buttons on the index finger for right click, left click and pause.

Wearable Mouse and Keyboard

One hand input device that controls the mouse and the keyboard. 34 sensors produce keystrokes and letters when you touch them together.

Created by Jeff Rowberg

Multi-tasking LED gloves

Sometimes a head torch just isn't good enough.  4 attachment points per glove means you can place the LED light exactly where you want it.

Vibrating texting glove

Allows the wearer to compose and transmit messages to smartphones.

Intended for people who are both deaf and blind and use Lorm. Lorm assigns letters of the alphabet to different parts of fingers and palm.

Textile pressure sensors on the glove allow the user to compose a message using Lorm, then transmit it to the intended recipient through Bluetooth.

Created by: Design Research Lab, Germany

Winter night biking gloves

Conductive fibers knit into the fingertip and palm areas. Making a fist closes the circuit and lights up the LED arrows on the backs of the hands. The conductive thread in the fingertips also enables gloves-on touchscreen use.

Wireless Music touch glove

Used with a piano keyboard. Vibrates your fingers so that you know which keys to play when learning the instrument.

Peregrine games controller glove

Control your video games with your hands. Set short cuts to hand gestures. Touch your fingers to perform the action.

Robotic grip gloves

Developed by General Motors and NASA. When the pressure increases in the finger tips, the glove tendons retract, holding the pressure and reducing the amount of force needed to hold the tool.

You can grip tools for longer without getting tired.

Show and Tell Glove

Equipped with flex sensors in the fingertips, a gyroscope, accelerometer and a Lilypad Arduino, the glove detect hand gestures and translates them into text messages on an Android phone.

Created by Oleg Imanilov, Tomer Daniel and Zvika Markfeld.

Wearable handheld keyboard

The keys are designed to be part of the glove, worn on the hand and operated with the fingers. Wires connect the keyboard to the rest of the system. 

Developed at the University of Toronto.