The magic glove

Abstract

This article introduces an instrumented glove and its application for robotic and human-assisted material handling manipulators. In its simplest form, worn by an operator, the sensory glove measures the force the wearer imposes on any part of the material handling robot or the object being maneuvered by the material handling robot This measured force is then transmitted as radio frequency (RF) signals to the controller of the material handling robot, which in turn maneuvers the load so that the human operator only needs to exert a small portion of the force, leaving the actuator of the system to provide the remaining force required. Therefore, the actuators of the material handling system add exertion only in response to the operator's hand force on the material handling system, or on the object maneuvered by the robot. Our experimental glove has proven entirely effective in manipulating objects naturally similar to the way we manipulate objects manually without activating many switches and pushbuttons to command the device.