An electronic glove, or e-glove, developed by US researchers can be worn over a prosthetic hand to provide human-like softness, warmth, appearance and sensory perception, such as the ability to sense pressure, temperature and hydration.
The German News Agency reported that the e-glove uses thin, flexible electronic sensors and miniaturized silicon-based circuit chips on nitrile gloves. The e-glove is connected to a specially designed wristwatch, allowing for real-time display of sensory data and remote transmission to the user for post-data processing.
"We developed a novel concept of an e-glove made of a flexible material allowing it to seamlessly fit on arbitrary hand shapes," The Science Daily website quoted Chi Hwan Lee, an assistant professor in Purdue's College of Engineering, as saying.
Lee said that the e-glove is configured with a stretchable form of multimodal sensors to collect various information such as pressure, temperature, and humidity, while simultaneously providing realistic human hand-like touch.
Lee and his team hope that the appearance and capabilities of the e-glove will improve the well-being of prosthetic hand users by allowing them to feel more comfortable in society.
