Tech Briefs Magazine - July 2023 - 28

Astronaut Smart Glove
The Astronaut Smart Glove undergoes its first field test at the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) Mars analog field site on Devon Island, High Arctic.
(Image: NASA HMP-2019/Pascal Lee)
The Astronaut Smart Glove
The NASA-STD-3000 document lists as a key design goal for
EVA spacesuits that gloved hand dexterity should approach that
of bare-hand operations. To meet this aspirational goal in practice,
spacesuit gloves have to either be significantly improved in
dexterity (Approach A), and/or be rendered usable more or less
as they are, but in ways that minimize workload to still achieve
effectively the needed performance of dexterity (Approach B).
The Astronaut Smart Glove (ASG) is an Approach B solution.
Before it became Astronaut Smart Glove, the ASG was just a
smart glove, a Human-Machine Interface (HMI). It was originally
invented by the Norwegian startup Arveng Technologies
(now Ntention) for applications outside the space technologies
sector, in particular dance, music, medical applications - to
help persons with mobility challenges - and the operation of
mass market commercial drones. The motion of fingers of the
hand and of the wrist, even very slight ones, are captured
through sensors integrated to a thin, form-fitting fabric glove,
then translated in real-time into wireless drone commands and
control inputs for intuitive, single-handed flight operation.
The smart glove replaces the cumbersome controller box
and multiple joysticks interface still in widespread use in the
commercial drone industry with a sleek single-hand
garment. Via the smart glove, a drone
can be made to roll left or right by slightly tilting
the gloved hand left or right, to fly forward
or backward by slightly tilting the hand forward
or backward, to rise up or drop down by
opening the hand or closing it slightly, and to
yaw left or right by slightly yawing the wrist left
or right, respectively. The sensitivity to gesture
amplitude needed as control input can be adjusted
" on the fly, " meaning that even minimal
motions, as one might be limited to while
wearing a rigid overglove, can be translated
into effective drone control inputs.
Following a public demonstration by Ntention
of drone flying ease with the smart glove
HMI at the Energy Valley 2019 conference in
Oslo, Norway, it was realized that if a smart glove
HMI could be integrated into the liner glove of
an EVA spacesuit glove, then a robotic system as
complex as a drone, and many other simpler
ones, could become operable during EVA even
in a stiff pressurized suit.
The Astronaut Smart Glove, integrated to an early Collins Aerospace concept spacesuit for
future Moon and Mars exploration, exposes two control buttons on the outer glove: one
for power, the other to select interface display and drone or other robot operating modes.
(Image: NASA HMP-2019/Pascal Lee)
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A collaboration was soon established between
the Mars Institute, a non-profit Mars science
and exploration research organization,
Collins Aerospace, Ntention, and NASA Ames
Tech Briefs, July 2023
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Tech Briefs Magazine - July 2023

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