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How to Make a Glove Do Cool Gestures Using #Arduino Tech #WearableWednesday #Wearabletech
This Gesture Bright LED reactive glove is beautiful in its simplicity and allows someone to communicate with a small movement of fingers. Think of this as a streamline way to talk with your hands. It was created by Jesse Kilpatrick as part of the Wearable Technology course at the School of Design, Victoria University of Wellington. Each set of movements creates a different color, and Jesse foresees this technology being used for night driving.
This project most likely uses an Arduino microcontroller with flex sensors in the fingers to control the LED strips. We’ve seen a similar glove used for raves that was less complicated, using an Arduino and accelerometer. These projects are a good example of how similar designs can respond to different functions—one creates a signal for safety while the other reacts to movement for entertainment. I’ve often talked with students that were not interested in creating projects that have already been done, but there is always the possibility of making an improvement in the fabrication or creating a different use. So, don’t discount an idea; if you find yourself liking a design, stick with it and work out a way to make it your own. Sometimes white papers on new technologies read like family trees when it comes to patents—you can see how one invention gives birth to many new uses. So, if you like these gloves, get some Neopixel Strips and have fun inventing. Just make sure you send us a video of what you create.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 2025 Wraps, Focus on Using Python, Open Source and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
“So, don’t discount an idea; if you find yourself liking a design, stick with it and work out a way to make it your own.”
Great advice! This blog gives me lots of inspiration, and it always ends up turning out different, but my own.