Using Advanced Sensors with VEX — the VR Control Glove
By Daniel Ramirez
Virtual Reality (VR) is a growing field that is normally too expensive for the hobbyist of
average means to afford to pursue, and is left for university, commercial, or military
research labs (and, of course, video games). Mattel gave us the original Power Glove
that worked as a video game input device, but stopped selling it in the late ‘80s. These
power gloves sometimes can be found for sale on eBay.
Remember Mickey Mouse with the universe at his command in Disney’s movie Fantasia Well, imagine a glove that you wear that provides the ability to move objects towards you or away from
you with the twist of a wrist. How about a glove you can
use to steer an RC vehicle or robot in any direction just by
pointing your hand in the desired direction. Now imagine
what you could do with two such gloves. How about
bringing some amazing animatronics to your own home for
holidays or other special occasions?
Not too long ago — before the Wii controllers became
widely available as motion input devices for new video
games — it was joysticks, trackballs, or a mouse that were
primarily used by video game players. This was also when
the Mattel power glove came into play, using flexible
resistors to digitize the operator’s hand and finger
movements.
Back in the August issue, I described the VEX sensor
subsystem, including info on each of the available VEX
sensors, how they correspond to our human senses (vision,
hearing, feeling, touching, smell), and how they are used to
provide feedback for controlling motor speed and detecting
mechanical limits. I also showed you how to use sensors to
control a simple but very bright strobe light. This time, I’ll
continue with this theme by describing other VEX resistive-based sensors used to simulate the sense of feel and touch,
and will show you how to use the VEX construction set and
these resistive-based sensors to build better robots. We’ll
start with the potentiometer.
FIGURE 1. Potentiometers come in
all shapes and sizes, and are used in
commercial and consumer electronics from
radios and TVs (the volume control) to
rheostats used in electric stoves and ovens
(to control the cooking temperature).
48 SERVO 11.2011
