Man controls drone with modified Power Glove

The American Nolan Moore has modified a Power Glove from 1989 in such a way that he is able to fly a drone with it. He demonstrated his project at the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, California.

On his extensive blog, Moore discusses the process underlying the creation of his project. Moore’s goal was to adapt a Power Glove from Nintendo, which the company released in the late 1980s without much success. He made the decision to replace all components inside the glove with his own hardware, which included a Teensy LC board combined with the sensors from a Pololu AltIMU-10 v4.

Moore initially designed his PCBs using Eagle, but later in the process switched to KiCAD. The connectivity options of the Power Glove have been greatly expanded, with an esp8266 wifi module, bluetooth, rc controller and an infrared transmitter. With that, Moore was eventually able to pilot a Parrot AR drone. By holding his hand flat, Moore makes the drone float in place and by making a fist and twisting his hand, he was able to influence the pitch and roll. He can also make the drone fly up and down by pointing his finger in the corresponding direction.

A model from Famicom was used for the final glove, because it was in new condition and the bending sensors were also completely intact.

The final version of the glove, photo from Hackaday.

The demonstration at the Maker Faire