Final Report

Video Lecture

Video, Slides

Description:

The Final Report Guidelines are the primary reference document for this assignment.

Requirements and Grading:

The Final Report is held to professional standards of language and format and is evaluated by staff in the ECE Editorial Services, who also check theses and dissertations for the department. The report is also evaluated for technical content and organization by the course staff. The Grading Rubrics are available for both English/Formatting and Technical Content , but here are some pointers:

  1. If you didn't click the link above, the Final Report Guidelines should be your first stop.
  2. Use a template to help get the formatting right (Microsoft Word template or LaTeX template).
  3. Since your Final Report is similar in purpose to a thesis, you may find the Thesis Writing Guidelines helpful for style and formatting.
  4. For citations, you may also find the IEEE Citation Reference guide useful.
  5. Please note the maximum number of pages (20) allowed for the final report. This does not include your references or appendices.You will be penalized for going over the maximum number of pages and/or not following the prescribed format.

    6. Submission and Deadlines:

    The Final Report document should be uploaded to My Project on PACE in PDF format by the deadline on the Calendar.

Glove Controlled Drone

Zach Greening, Atsi Gupta, Aneesh Nagalkar

Featured Project

Glove Controlled Drone

Team Members

- Aneesh Nagalkar (aneeshn3)

- Zach Greening (zg29)

- Atsi Gupta (atsig2)

# Problem

Controlling drones typically requires handheld remote controllers or smartphones, which may not feel natural and can limit user interaction. A more intuitive way to control drones could increase accessibility, improve user experience, and open possibilities for new applications such as training, entertainment, or assistive technology.

# Solution

Our group proposes building a wearable gesture-control glove that sends commands to a quadcopter. The glove will use motion sensors to detect the user’s hand orientation and movements, translating them into drone commands (e.g., tilting forward moves the drone forward). The glove will transmit these commands wirelessly to the quadcopter through an ESP32 Wi-Fi module. The drone will be purchased in parts to simplify integration and ensure reliable flight mechanics, while the glove will be custom-built.

To improve from previous iterations of similar projects, we plan to:

- Use IMU sensors instead of flex sensors for more precise and complex gesture detection.

- Add haptic feedback to communicate status updates to the user (e.g., low battery, weak signal).

- Implement an emergency shutoff mechanism triggered by a specific hand gesture (e.g., closing the hand).

- Potentially integrate a camera onto the quad copter that will be signalled by a different hand gesture.

The system is also scalable to include advanced commands such as speed adjustments based on motion severity.

# Solution Subsystems

**Subsystem 1: Gesture Detection**

- IMU and gyroscope sensors embedded in the glove to detect orientation and movement.

- Sensor fusion algorithms to interpret gestures into defined drone commands.

1. Three axis gyroscope: mpu-6050

2. IMU: Pololu MinIMU-9 v6

Controls:

Here is a clear definition of how the drone will move

- Drone maintains a constant hover height (handled by the drone’s onboard flight controller barometer/altimeter stabilization)

- The glove only controls horizontal motion and yaw (turning

- Pitch forward (tilt hand down): Move forward

- Pitch backward (tilt hand up): Move backward

- Roll left (tilt hand left): Strafe left

- Roll right (tilt hand right): Strafe right

- Yaw (rotate wrist clockwise/counter-clockwise): Turn left/right

- Clenched fist (or another distinct gesture): Emergency stop / shutoff

**Subsystem 2: Communication Module**

- ESP32 microcontroller on the glove acts as the transmitter.

- Wi-Fi connection to the drone for sending control signals.

1. ESP32 microcontroller

2. Integrated ESP32 wifi chip

3. Voltage regulation

**Subsystem 3: Quadcopter Hardware**

- Drone hardware purchased off-the-shelf to ensure stable flight.

- Integrated with receiver to interpret Wi-Fi commands from the glove

1. LiteWing – ESP32-Based Programmable Drone

**Subsystem 4: Feedback and Safety Enhancements**

- Haptic motors embedded in the glove to provide vibration-based feedback.

- Emergency shutoff gesture detection for immediate drone power-down.

1. Vibrating Actuator: Adafruit 10 mm Vibration Motor

2. Driver for actuator: Precision Microdrives 310-117

3. Battery: Adafruit 3.7 V 1000 mAh Li-Po

4. Glove that components will be affixed to

# Criterion for Success, minimum 5/7 of these

- The glove reliably detects and distinguishes between multiple hand movements.

- The drone responds in real time to glove commands with minimal delay.

- Basic directional commands (forward, back, left, right, up, down) work consistently.

- Scaled commands (e.g., varying speed/acceleration) function correctly.

- Haptic feedback provides clear communication of system status to the user.

- The emergency shutoff mechanism works reliably and immediately.

- The system demonstrates smooth, safe, and intuitive user control during a test flight.