Italian designer Francesca Barchiesi imagined as part of her graduation project back in 2010 a smart glove that takes pictures and translates hand gestures to audio. That concept is futuristic even by today’s standards.
Currently residing in the Netherlands, Francesca Barchiesi seems to be a prolific designer. Three years ago, while studying in Faenza, Italy, she came up with a concept of a hi-tech glove that enables wearers to perform certain actions by doing specific hand gestures.
As seen in the following picture, the Hand-Tech glove would feature a microphone, a speaker and a camera. Certain actions can be performed with a single hand (and hence with a single glove), while others would require people to wear a pair of these.
In theory, the smart glove could also be equipped with projectors that display images or videos when pointing at a wall.
Making the OK sign and holding it in front of the eye would enable people to record video. On the other hand, when taking pictures, the wearers would have to make a frame using the fingers of both hands. Increasing or decreasing the distance between the hands would cause the camera to zoom out/in. The only problem with such a design is that the integrated camera would most probably feature only optical zoom, which is not the great.
Hand-Tech could also help people measure small distances. In order to do this, people would have to touch their pointing fingers on the surface that needs to be measured. When the contact between the fingers is lost, the smart glove starts measuring the distance, and presumably projects the result somewhere.
Data exchange would be a handshake away in Francesca’s vision, as illustrated in the following picture.
One of the most interesting features of the Hand-Tech glove is the ability to convert sign language and hand gestures to audio. This would give deaf-mutes a voice, not to mention that more people would be able to interact with them.
These smart gloves are also able to tell the time, thus rendering yet another accessory useless. To do this, people have to imagine that they hold a real-life clock in their hands.
Projections in midair or holograms are yet another thing Francesca would add to these smart gloves. Some ideas are really great, and I wouldn’t mind seeing such a hi-tech fashion accessory entering mass production.
If you liked this post, please check the Hi-Call Bluetooth gloves that make you talk to the hand, and the Handphone cell phone that lets you do the same thing.
