Any DIY glove / bodysuit makers out there?

I'm definitely interested in some more info, when you say the old VPL design, a quick google led me to the one from the 1980's? Are you working off old docs or is this a homebrew project?

As far as data, I've used serial for inputs into Unity, but that was mainly due to cable length and problems with USB. Only issue is the 2.6 mono doesn't seem to support serial events so you'll need to use polling for updated info.

not working off any docs from VPL... but the patents are out there I think.
But ya, the old lanier days... they used fiber optics for the gloves and body suits.

It was the only option back then... and I couldnt afford it... but had many books and every issue of the old journal "telepresence" from MIT to get around to figuring out how they did it. Mind you we're talking very early 90's here... when the internet was still the "information superhighway".

I made this to create a midi input device through an arduino similar to the effect todd machover did in his techno opera "valis"... except he used a dextrous hand-master... i think it was $15k back then ! :shock:

It did respond but I never did get around to developing it any further until now. I'm interested to see how accurate and reliable the data can be. I will certainly keep updates... actually working on it again now making a formal test rig to just test the light pipes with different light sources. i've used lightpipes for replacing el wire on mardi gras costumes... it's much dimmer... but for this type of application I think it will work on at least a homebrew project. Would be easy as all get out to translate to a bodysuit.

Here's an old video of the lightpipes proto used for costuming.


Thing to notice is the transmission distance...
notice that the red wavelengths transmit all the way for the lenght of the coil of lightpipe. Further down the spectrum to green then blue it falls off in a very short distance due to the internal reflection angles of incidence (i think) bounce out faster.

Nice thing about red working well though is that cheap red laser diodes are very bright down it.

I'm thinking of seeing how IR works... and hopefully can get some test data soon up here.

Also thinking of making tiny slits in the lightpipes at critical joint areas to break up the light even more.

If red light doesn't fall off enough at short distances... other colors might suit short distances better.

Just ideas... glad there's interest!

If it works ok - it's SUPER diy easy... I'm thinking of rebuilding my cupcake to do some 3d printed armatures now... lol... so many unfinished projects on the shelf over here. Not to mention a bunch of red lines across your body flashing on and off looks pretty cool :D

Thoughts/comments are definitely welcome.

Here's what I use for lightpipes... many many hours searching for a cheap alternative to other materials made to be flexible lightpipes.

This can be had for like... 3 dollars a roll? Haha.. very cheap.
I get this stuff at the craft store "Michaels" in the USA. It's used as a beading cord. Happens to transmit internal reflections of light pretty derned well. ;)

I'm sure any craft store that supplies beading materials would carry it... it's on ebay cheap also.

There are many other materials that transmit will that are cheap.

There was a particular brand of fishing line (for catching REALLY big fish!) that transmitted well but was too stiff for my applications back then. Also there is a line of cord used to tie up fake ducks ... it is crystal clear to hide itself to ducks when it lies in/on the water.

Mind you ... Im not into fishing/duck hunting/beading myself... lol... I seriously spent many many hours looking for a decent cheap alternative light pipe.

Hopefully others will get involved and try this stuff out too!

What are you using for sensors/values?

for that little project it was just a photoresistor... the off the shelf cheap-o variety.

values... i just mapped the analog signal to 8-bit values in the arduino code.
As it was... it was a silly little project when i was bored one night.
I'll see what I can get together this weekend as a little prototype to check responsiveness.

So the bend sensing is from the light level coming through the pipes into the resistors and passed through as a value to the adruino board? Is it a single sensor per finger or is it per knuckle? Anything set up for palm or non-finger?

That was just one pipe per finger. I looped it at the ends but small smt leds at a not-looped open end on end of fingers and knuckles is where i'll go with it if i can get a reliable and accurate reading after notching the cord at bends.

wow.. did that make sense? quite a run on there.

I hope to have time over the weekend to see if for this application it's feasible and accurate.
If anything it would be a great place for people to jump into diy stuff as it would just be a simple serial data stream.
I think a single ftdi chip would suffice with anything with enough analog inputs... unless they are multiplexed.
Anyhow - good entry level experimenting stuff anyone could do. Might work really well too :) I'd love a bodysuit... chicks I'm sure would super dig it. :lol:

Ya know... if you made a body suit for outer space... and had heating / cooling lines running through one could use the liquid as a light pipe. that would be in the beta phase though. after xray vision on the rift.

Sorry for the crappy video... just wanted to put something up there.

Ok... well a quick test and it looks like it is just that cheap and simple.
Notching does help quantize and exaggerate the reading from bends in the joints. Not shown in this vid.

So now to get the reading into the pc and then to build a fixture for a glove.
I'm cooking a few ideas for that on the back burner.

So how well would unity be to animate the model of a hand off of this data.
any recommendations on cheap test setup for an interface to the pc? I have options but not well versed in unity and what is proven to work with it.

For now I'm thinking multiplex the data through serial stream in.

Got data into unity via serial.
EDIT **** the lightpipe is affecting the particle flow... like it's photons coming out of the lightpipe. Everyone I've shown thinks the finger is scripted... lol its jsut hinged and bouncing. Look at the particle system react to kinking the pipe. Also the game camera angle is rotated like 90 degrees ... oh jeez ill put up a better video later tonight lol... ****

Lightpipe gets kinked... light pressure goes down.
Light pressure goes down... photons start dribbling out.

:)
<super quick and dirty amateur unity here>



You can see the finger model back there... I'm ubergreen to unity so I'm just figuring it out. Last hardcore programming job was 1993... in C on SGI's... I'm pretty darned rusty. Any interest out there helps drive more work on it. I have lots of fun ideas to implement in a body suit! I'm learning quick but advice is very welcome.

I've actually been doing research for a DIY data-glove on my spare time. I've been looking at flex sensors ( https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8606 ), they are relatively cheap and were supposedly used in the PowerGlove (which could be good or bad). I also bought the Pololu MinIMU-9 v2 ( http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1268 ) which was also affordable. Haven't got a chance to start testing this stuff yet, but its very exciting.

@itcamefrommars: Nice work man!