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Technology

New "Power Glove" for the PC 124

Posted by Hemos from the fist-of-power dept.
friedmud writes "I just saw an interesting technology demo over at Essential Reality. It is of a "glove-like" device that allows you to interact with your computer. In particular the demo(which is very viewable using the CrossOver plugin) having to do with 3D Studio Max was just incredible (almost too incredible - but hey, we'll have to see) - they put together a model of a mouse in seconds by "molding" it using the "glove". It looks like the SDK is out, and the product is supposed to ship soon. News blurbs can be found at: PCWorld, Yahoo"
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New "Power Glove" for the PC More

New "Power Glove" for the PC

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  • This reminds me of a glove device for the NES...
    • I've seen a driver that lets you use the NES Power Glove with your NeXT machine by connecting it through the DSP port. I don't know just how much you can do with it, but it always seemed like a neat idea.
  • #1 application of this thing i'd say would be in dooooommm..... forget the BFG, i'm using my fist!
    ohhh yeah ;)

  • P5 Redux (Score:2, Informative)

    by jx100 ( 453615 )
    I believe thas has been posted before. [slashdot.org]

  • Slashdot Editors... (Score:1, Informative)

    by cibrPLUR ( 176588 )
    ...should read [slashdot.org] Slashdot.

  • Demo (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Spy Hunter ( 317220 ) on Saturday November 10, 2001 @09:07PM (#2549671) Journal
    That demo looks totally fake. It looks like they recorded a video of someone playing Quake, Half-Life, and modeling in 3DS Max with a mouse, then superimposed that picture of someone acting out the movements. I would be very surprised if those on-screen movements were actually made with the glove in real-time. Besides, with no tactile feedback, I imagine it would be pretty hard to "grasp" objects.
    • yea, and i bet you think we didnt land on the moon either

      • Re:Demo (Score:2)

        by Jerf ( 17166 )
        If you think all demos are always accurate, you're in no position to making snide comments about other people's wisdom.
        • Remember the 42" monitor one that was posted here? It turned out to be a TV from the local Best Buy =)

          Check out fuckedcompany.com -- it's a good laugh.
  • Seems pretty useless to me...
    Like that Nintendo thing
    • Seems pretty useless to me...


      Imagine the implications to the pr0n industry. :-P

    • Re:Uses of glove (Score:2, Informative)

      by dimfeld ( 247690 )
      The Nintendo Power Glove actually became quite famous among hobbyist VR developers. Compared to the other gloves of the time, it was probably around one tenth of the price, and although it was, of course, not as good as those expensive gloves, one could do some nice things with it when interfaced to a PC.

      The problem with the Glove on a Nintendo was that the games just weren't designed to be used with the Glove, so it was much easier to use the controller. Actually, Super Glove Ball, the one game that took advantage of the Glove's "raw" mode and was designed specifically for it, was also easier to play with the controller. In General VR usage on a PC, the Glove was nice though. This new glove product could have potential.
      • Sorry to make 2 posts, but I just remembered a program that interfaced a Power Glove to MIDI, creating a crude simulation of a piano. The horizontal position controlled the note that was played, and the index finger controlled note on/off. Vertical position controlled volume. I suppose it was more like a Theremin than a piano, but either way, it was fun to play around with.

  • This could revolutionize the 3D modeling industry (Score:5, Informative)

    by thesolo ( 131008 ) <slap@fighttheriaa.org> on Saturday November 10, 2001 @09:10PM (#2549676) Homepage
    Watching the demo of it in use, I was especially impressed with the 3DSMax portion of it. Its a common saying in the industry that trying to model something on a computer is like trying to sculpt clay with boxing gloves on. This could change that old axiom. From the looks of it, this thing would be far easier to use than any of the LogiCad3D devices [logicad3d.com]

    Currently, most models are first carved out of clay, then scanned into a computer using a progressive laser and manipulated digitally. A product like this, that actually lets you accurately manipulate 3D space without having to break work flow and check your positioning in relation to axes, could do wonders for the modeling industry.
    In my opinion, if its as easy to use as it looked in the demo, this thing will sell like crazy.

    • Re:This could revolutionize the 3D modeling indust (Score:5, Interesting)

      by rho ( 6063 ) on Saturday November 10, 2001 @09:38PM (#2549722) Journal

      A glove interacting with a computer has quite a long way to go before it will be able to compete with the humble wad of clay.

      The kinds of tools available to a sculptor, the tactile feedback of the medium is far, far superior to a single glove acting on air and the artist looking at a computer screen.

      The glove has it's uses: it is not a replacement for a 3D capture device, however.

      • What if it were not intended to replace clay, but use a combination of clay and the gloves to bypass the scanning step? The sculptor could put on the gloves, start working with some standard lump of clay, initialize the glove tracking program, and manipulate the 3D model with the gloves as their actual hands manipulate the real clay model. When the real-world sculpture is finished, the 3D model would be done, as well.

        Then all that's left is to hook up the fabricator, hit "copy", and start cranking out toys...
        • or the artists could work comfortably, in the way they're used to, and you could spend a little extra time with a computer graphics guy doing the object capture/associated tweaking...
        • hmm that would be a good idea, but you'd have to have EXTREMELY high-accuracy position tracking, otherwise the minor errors would quickly add up and you'd be left with a 3d model that looked absolutely nothing at all like the piece of clay. This is the same as when a beginner writes a 3d program which uses the standard SIN/COS rotation formula on the verticies that have already been rotated; everything looks ok to begin with, but soon the model loses all touch.

          so, the 3d scanning method, or the completely virtual clay methods are the only ones that are at all feasable unless the detection accuracy of the gloves is insanely high.

          one day....
        • Two problems (that haven't been mentioned yet): firstly, you now have the problem that the program needs to know what the piece of clay looked like initially. Unless you can always start with a perfectly spherical ball of clay... Secondly, you would need to model the physics of the clay, such as sagging. For all that trouble, you might as well just go with force feedback.
        • There's another potential problem with this: sculptors are unlikely to use just their hands to shape the clay. To bypass the scanning step, the glove tracking details would have to be combined with detailed information about every tool used. For example, was the tool that was dragged across the surface of the clay scraping with a flat or curved edge, or was it gouging a thin or wide groove?

          An interesting idea, but I don't think the scanning process will be retired any time soon.
    • It looked to me like the raccoon was built up out of a bunch of primitives (deformed spheres, etc.) That's not much of a sculpting job, really, and not much more impressive than you could achieve with a pointing device like a mouse or Wacom tablet.

      Where a device like this *might* be interesting is when used in conjunction with Maya's Artisan tools or Softimage|XSI's weight maps to deform and stretch a polygon mesh by pushing and pulling vertices.

      And as for the idea of "most models" being created through a sculpt/digitize process, maybe that's true at the high end (Pixar, ILM, DD, PDI), but your average mom and pop animation shop is likely using the tools built into their software.

      A well designed modelling enviroment like Maya or Softimage pretty much eliminates the need to check positioning in relation to axes... most modellers I know do most of their work in the perspective view anyways.
      • Actually, with a primitive HUD this could be entirely useful. Johnny Nmemonic anyone?

        It is absolutely perfect for my senior project.

        I had planned on using the actual and quite dated power glove, but this is a great replacement.

        What is my senior project?

        Why designing and implementing a remote control mechanism for my car.

        Yeah, sure it probably would end up in a few homicides and going to sleep with the unit on really isn't recommended.
    • I've used/reviewed most of the major haptic devices that have emerged over the years for a major trade magazine covering 3D & CAD. TI looked at the spacemouse and PHANTOM, from Sensable (kind of a reverse version of the Immersion digitizer) this year and a couple of more whose names escape me over the past few years, including some gloves. None of them have impressed me, and I get the feeling this glove won't either. The reason you don't see these in production is that they just don't have the finesse of the real world, and are clunkier to use than a mouse. I'm still waiting.
  • That demo is *unbelieavable*. My jaw nearly hit the floor when it got to the 3d studio max section wherein the actor makes a 3d model racoon in about 15 seconds using nothing but hand motions. This device already looks like a must-have, but imagine if they combined it with some sort of force feedback technology?

    Most impressive.

    • yea. and who wants to make a bet you're a plant from essential realities--a satellite of old, paid to circle through the crowd and pipe up support at key moments in order to hype your little fake glove thing.

      if the glove is as accurate as the animation depicted, it would be ALL over right now. also, how does the glove keep track of where the hand is? Where are the details? Don't just show us a stupid animation and plant lame "I wanna buy it" crap all over the place.

      Let us in on the technology. What, you think we're just going to copy it? If we could do something like that, don't you think we would've done it already?
    • The sourceforge project is in 'planning' stages. You can get real drivers here [internet2.edu] (readme [internet2.edu])
      • Big ass difference. The drivers you pointed to are for interfacing it via something called a "Menelli box". The sourceforge effort is for plugging it directly* into the parallel port.

        Finding a powerglove may be next to impossible now. Finding a menelli box is to the next magnitude.

        Either way you shake it, the powerglove still bites...but is fun to play with

        (*) Well, as directly as you can since the connectors are different, but you can run wires from the powerglove into the parallel port holes and it works.
  • arena will never be the same. I believe I remember another article that ran on /. very recently concerning VR in gaming with body sensors and tredmills.

    If we could replace the tredmills with entire rooms fitted with floor sensors, it would seem that the near future holds a new level of VR gaming where you will no longer be sitting behind the computer... but rather inside a Star Trek holo-deck
    • Isn't this basically what a CAVE setup is?
      And yes, Quake3 has been ported to CAVE, as has Unreal Tournament...
    • As was discussed (at greath length) in the story about VR and CAVE, theres alot of problems to solve with FPS shooters and full-immersion VR. However, manipulative games like Black & White could translate to VR with next to zero diffuculty - in fact, I imagine that, given drivers, you could play Black & White with a VR headset and a Power Glove with no hacking of the game required at all. Hrm... gotta find me a cheap headset...
      Slightly off-topic - thinkgeek.com has a headset designed for watching DVD movies thats supposed to be equivalent to watching an 18 foot projection screen. It's pretty pricey (600 bucks) and wouldn't support head movement, but has anybody hooked one of these up to a tv-out? I hear alot of the problem with VR headsets is the low resolution of the LCD screens, does this solve that problem somehow?

  • Egad (Score:2)

    by nebby ( 11637 )
    Can someone try to mirror the video(s) before their server melts?

  • better glove (Score:3, Informative)

    by zephc ( 225327 ) on Saturday November 10, 2001 @09:42PM (#2549726)
    it looks a little clunky, but the CyberGlove [immersion.com] with its four levels (prices) has force AND tactile feedback. Immersion also has an SDK for use with it... the demo (RM format) [immersion.com] has a great example of how it works

  • Real power gloves used in computing for a while (Score:4, Informative)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Saturday November 10, 2001 @09:46PM (#2549732) Homepage Journal
    Does anyone remember the original Power Glove for the NES? I'd guess you would.

    Now, does anyone know what happened to it? Most people don't. But Mattel got sued for patent violation. Turns out they used the same technology in their $75 PowerGlove [dmu.ac.uk] that the makers of the $10,000 DataGlove owned.

    A lot of people have been wiring these things up for use with General PCs for regular use

    There's a sourceforge project [sourceforge.net] to write some Linux drivers, but they are in the 'planning' phase. There are some other drivers here [internet2.edu] (readme [internet2.edu]). Scroll down until you get to 'powerglove.tgz'
    • Check your design details of the PowerGlove.

      They use a unique one-piece resistive scheme on mylar strips that covers the entire finger. The VPL DataGlove happens to use fiber-optic flexion sensors at each knuckle joint- which is more precise but much, much more expensive. The link you offer says as much- and indicated that it's pedigree was from the DataGlove but didn't say that it WAS the same.
    • Actually IIRC, it was more for violating the patent of "using a glove as an input device". The design of VPL and Mattels was night and day.
  • Haven't these things [ebay.com] been around for years?
  • Which industry do you think will take advantage of this the most quickly and take it to its highest potential?

    (Hint: it starts with a "p" and ends with an "n")

  • Interactive, force feedback virtual edition of Leisure suit larry...

    Lets just hope any of the ...ahem... attachments are USB 1.0 or 2.0, gawd I'd hate to have to put *any* appendage into a device with firewire... gives new meaning to "red handed" and "hot box'ing"...owie!

    I suppose when the Microsoft driver comes out, you will need a glove for both hands, so when you click the no button on a passport query, one hand will reach out and slap the other one.
    Or, make you grab yourself by the short n curlies...hell, they got us there already metaphorically, why not physically?

    Wandering back on topic, "Power Glove" anyone?

    I seem to recall this was useful in vr labs (maybe that was a hollywood thing, dunno) but for games?
    Well, maybe it could be useful in Quake3 for when you get blown to bits, have the glove run your taunts via gestures:
    Flip off: Fsck you (playername)
    shake fist: you'll pay for this!
    salute: Well done
    Peace sign: peace dude.
    Fist slams on table: Grrrrrr.
    Touch screen: NOOOOOooooooooo....(whimper)

    It could work, I suppose.
  • Can I use it to play Rad Racer?

    "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad." -from The Wizard, starring Fred Savage.

    Cheers,
    IT
  • It'll be great to download some pr0n with it ;)
  • I wonder if they realize that this is nothing new, I have been doing this since i got my NES powerglove and my 80486 computer, and I have it wired up so that I can do just this. This is great amazing news, so great and amazing that it still amazes people after such a long time. And yes I do have drivers and software that let me use it inplace of both my mouse and keyboard. All I do is write in the air and it translates it to words (like the PDAs do). Only problem is I have to rework a lot of things if I change resolutions not to mention what I have to do with my LCD shutter glasses. I sware life was much simpler at 640*480*256.
    For those of you interested in actually hooking up a powerglove to a PC have fun, mine is done through an ISA card, though I don't see why you shouldn't be able to make another type of interface for it. I found it easiest to make a card that had a NES extentioncable coming out the back. And as always, if you build your own daughter boards you do risk messing up your computer and only you are to blame for doing it, but i can tell you that there are several great resources out there for you to get your information from as to how to build these.
    Also, don't ask me for information on places to find this information or the drivers. I won't get involved in this myself, last time i did, someone messed up their project and blammed me. If you do build one, have fun they are a great toy and I wish that more powergloves were made because I am having a hard time finding a second one to put onto another computer so that I can have lightsaber duels.

  • Oh NO (Score:1, Troll)

    by rockwood ( 141675 )
    I can only imagine the line of adult geared games that will be released with 'Glove Technology' capabilities. I hope it comes with an optional velvet lined palm.
  • We nerds and geeks see devices such as this come and go, alas they seem like good ideas but either become vaporware, or turn out to be pieces of utter crap in the end. Let us all hope that this will be the exception to the rule, for the lazy bastard in all of us, or for those of us who are just too good for a generic mouse.

  • duh (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Glove technology has been around for years. And years, on SGIs. Wake up.
  • i didn't see any talk of this, but i figured it to be a natural enough question... if you're using this glove to do menial mouse tasks, do you have to type with one hand, or does the glove have to be turned off to type? does it recognise the motions of typing and turn itself off?

    seems like this would get bothersome...
  • How about a Beow...oooh...floor pie!
  • I think this device shows of the potential for some new approaches towards model and level design. Instead of an artist trying to actualize his vision with a pointing device like a mouse or stylus, why not "scoop" out sections of an area when making a new map for quake?? At the very least, it sounds like it would make a great prototyping tool.

    On a semi-related note... I wonder if anyone has tried to use a gestural interface with this task in mind. I heard of an interesting project at Brown called Sketch [brown.edu], but haven't seen anything go mainstream. Anyone know?

  • Scanned over the reply topics and did not see my anything related to my idea.

    With the research and development of alternative energy there is growth in applications of the energy.

    Previous versions of the "Power Glove" have first started with long wire resistors (or flat potentometers) that detect the amount of bend in the wire to determine the angle of the fingers. There has been an added amount of sensors to the glove to retrieve fine angle values. Too many sensors have made the glove uncomfortable or unnatural to wear. Also included in the glove have been sensors to detect touch and twist motions.

    One application for the disabled has been to detect heat. There have been individuals known that lack common nervous reaction to fire. The worn glove detects the heat and add an extra signal to the person.

    Alternative energy has an application of sensory of touch, angle of hand, and angle of finger to retrieve, motion, and temperature. Hydrogen fuel cells have presented technology to create energy on pressure or change of temperature. Miniturization of the fuel cell technology into small pressure sensor is in plans of development.

    Sincerely,
    BALLARD
  • Porn Industry.
  • The concept of a powerglove is a very "Rube Goldberg"-esque hardware persuit. I have a Nintendo Powerglove, and can say that first-hand experience with powergloves has been pretty damn abysmal. I played that "Superball" game that came with it for a hour straight (yep, same game, no restarts...not a bad game once you figure it out) and I had to modify my hand and body position repeatedly in order to keep going. The "glove" sucks for long-term, repetitive tasks. The mouse works because it allows us to sit on our butts and keep on going. Anybody with a glove isn't going to do a day at the 'puter. It might have a place with "Palm" (nice product tie-in too) and virtual keyboards and mice, but for the PC, and "Gaming all damn day", it's a white-oliphant.
  • This is cute and all, but has anyone heard of a light gun or something similar being used as a mouse or as a first person shooter gun?
  • I've been checking and re-checking this site since it was up. I'm pretty damned excited about the glove for 3D modeling (just being able to reach around something I'm working on would be great, if only 3D Studio MAX had depth cueing) but particularly for motion capture purposes. I can imagine animating a 3D creature like a sock puppet, doing Kermit the Frog style lip synch and head motion. It'd be a lot easier and more intuitive than using a joystick or MIDI controllers for simple mocap (I've used both), and hell, it'd be fun.


    There is a serious problem with data gloves, though: think about how much effort it will be to use one for a long period of time. People (myself included) have all kinds of problems related to using mice for hours on end... imagine if you had to keep your hand held up for similar lengths of time. Test it out now: pick up your hand and hold it in front of you, as if you were waiting to make a toast with a glass of beer. Even after a minute of this, you can tell that this could be really painful if done for prolonged periods.

  • I remember a few things about the power glove (for the nintendo system, that it had two ultrasonic sensors on the unit, above the outermost knuckles, and that the 3 receivers on the tv set got 12-byte bursts that both had the button and finger-tension information (digital) and the x-y-z-tilt spatial information was extracted from the relative signal strengths (analog).

    OK, i remember the glove, but most of the above is from reading a simple VR book. It was listed as one of the really cool items to try and use, and they also said that even though they don't make power gloves any more, the company who holds the patent(s) won't let anyone else make them or anything similar. grr...

    So where does this thing stand? If an 8-bit nintendo was able to use it, what is the hold-up? OK, so it doesn't cost $10,000 anymore... is that any reason not to make the drivers? (Maybe I should contribute instead of running my mouth :-)

    Those driver guys should look at "The Virtual Reality Construction Kit" by Joe Gradecki, which would be helpful because it apparently had equations and other stuff that tells you the math needed to make the glove useful.

    some links, i guess:
    http://www.angelfire.com/ok2/stepinto/PowerGlove Pa ge.html
    http://www.speech.kth.se/kacor/press/press.htm

    I can't find a picture of the power glove gestures poster, though! Grr... And yes, while searching, I came across the previous slashdot article on 'data gloves'.
    • I thought if you had a patent for something you were obligated to license it to anyone for a reasonable price...?
  • Dr. Evil: I propose that we design a new ''input device'' to what is commonly known now as a ''computer''. This device will be glove-shaped - we shall call it the ''PowerGlove''. Now, we will sell this ''PowerGlove'' along with a specialized computer for playing video games...this will lead directly to the <cackle>
    ruination of analytic thought of a whole generation of American youth! Muahahahaha!! </cackle>
    Number One: *cough* Ehem...that's already been done. It was called the Nintendo. All it did was inspire creativity in youths that went on to lucrative careers in a booming video game industry.

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