Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
20 Glove controlled mouse with haptic feedback
Khushi Kalra
Vallabh Nadgir
Vihaansh Majithia
Frey Zhao proposal1.pdf
# Problem
For digital artists, traditional mousepads and trackpads are constrained and limit natural hand motion, making writing or drawing on a laptop cumbersome. Existing gesture-based input devices are often expensive, camera-dependent, or occupy significant desktop space. There is a need for a low-cost, wearable, intuitive interface that enables free-form cursor control and natural gesture-based clicking.

# Solution
We propose a wearable glove system that allows users to control a computer cursor using hand movements and perform mouse clicks with natural finger pinches. The system consists of four main subsystems:

1) Hand Motion Tracking Subsystem – captures hand orientation and motion to move the cursor.
2) Finger Gesture Detection Subsystem – detects index and middle finger pinches for left/right clicks.
3) Haptic Feedback Subsystem – provides real-time vibration feedback for click confirmation.
4) Software Subsystem – processes sensor data, maps gestures to mouse actions, and communicates with the computer.

# Components

## Subsystem 1: Hand Motion Tracking
Purpose: Detects hand orientation and movement to control the 2D cursor position.

Components:
IMU sensor (accelerometer + gyroscope + magnetometer) for 3D motion tracking.
Microcontroller (ESP32 or Arduino Nano 33 BLE) for sensor data processing.
Custom PCB to host IMU, microcontroller, and wiring to glove sensors.
A lightweight Lipo battery.

Description:
The IMU measures acceleration and rotation of the hand. Firmware filters and converts these readings into cursor velocity and direction. Provides smooth, real-time hand-to-cursor mapping (targeting cursor movement or click) cursor movement or click) <50 ms.
4) Wearability: Glove and PCB fit comfortably on the hand without restricting motion.
5) Software Functionality: Firmware correctly processes sensors; optional PC software handles calibration and visualization.
6) Haptic Feedback: Vibrations are triggered reliably with each recognized click gesture.

## Subsystem 2: Finger Gesture Detection
Purpose: Detects finger pinches to generate left/right mouse clicks and optional extra gestures.

Components: Flex/bend sensors on index and middle fingers for left/right clicks. Optional thumb flex sensor for gestures like scrolling or drag. Optional capacitive/touch sensor for hover or special gestures. Pull-down resistors and conductive wiring embedded in glove.

Description: Flex sensors detect finger bending; bending past a threshold triggers clicks. Firmware includes debouncing to prevent multiple clicks from one gesture. Optional thumb and touch sensors provide extended functionality.

## Subsystem 3: Haptic Feedback
Purpose: Provides tactile confirmation for detected gestures.

Components: Small vibration motor (coin or pager type). Driver circuitry on PCB to control vibration intensity.

Description: The microcontroller activates vibration briefly when a click gesture is recognized. Enhances user experience by providing immediate feedback without needing visual confirmation.

## Subsystem 4: Software Subsystem
Purpose: Maps sensor data to cursor movement, gestures, and communicates with the computer.

Components: Microcontroller firmware for sensor data acquisition, filtering, and gesture detection. PC-side optional calibration GUI (Python or C++) for sensitivity adjustment and mapping hand motion to screen resolution.

Description: Processes raw sensor data and converts IMU readings into cursor deltas (Δx, Δy) and flex/touch inputs into click commands. Supports USB HID or Bluetooth HID communication to the computer. Optional software smooths cursor motion, calibrates sensors, and visualizes hand gestures for testing (Stretch).

# Criterion for Success
1) Resolution (Equivalent DPI): variable DPI: (Range: 400-1000 DPI)
2) Max Tracking Speed (IPS): ≥50 IPS (so quick flicks don’t drop).
3) Acceleration Tolerance: ≥5 g without loss of tracking (users move hands fast).
4) Polling Rate: ≥100 Hz (every 10 ms or better).
5) End-to-End Latency: ≤20 ms (ideally closer to 10 ms).
6) Click Accuracy: ≥95% reliable detection of intended clicks, false positives ≤1%.
8) Haptic Feedback Response Time: <40 ms after click detection.
9) Cursor Control Accuracy: Hand movements map to cursor position within ±2% of intended location.
10) Wearability: Glove and PCB fit comfortably on the hand without restricting motion.

Control System and User Interface for Hydraulic Bike

Iain Brearton

Featured Project

Parker-Hannifin, a fluid power systems company, hosts an annual competition for the design of a chainless bicycle. A MechSE senior design team of mechanical engineers have created a hydraulic circuit with electromechanical valves, but need a control system, user interface, and electrical power for their system. The user would be able to choose between several operating modes (fluid paths), listed at the end.

My solution to this problem is a custom-designed control system and user interface. Based on sensor feedback and user inputs, the system would change operating modes (fluid paths). Additionally, the system could be improved to suggest the best operating mode by implementing a PI or PID controller. The system would not change modes without user interaction due to safety - previous years' bicycles have gone faster than 20mph.

Previous approaches to this problem have usually not included an electrical engineer. As a result, several teams have historically used commercially-available systems such as Parker's IQAN system (link below) or discrete logic due to a lack of technical knowledge (link below). Apart from these two examples, very little public documentation exists on the electrical control systems used by previous competitors, but I believe that designing a control system and user interface from scratch will be a unique and new approach to controlling the hydraulic system.

I am aiming for a 1-person team as there are 6 MechSE counterparts. I emailed Professor Carney on 10/3/14 and he thought the general concept was acceptable.

Operating modes, simplified:

Direct drive (rider's pedaling power goes directly to hydraulic motor)

Coasting (no power input, motor input and output "shorted")

Charge accumulators (store energy in expanding rubber balloons)

Discharge accumulators (use stored energy to supply power to motor)

Regenerative braking (use motor energy to charge accumulators)

Download Competition Specs: https://uofi.box.com/shared/static/gst4s78tcdmfnwpjmf9hkvuzlu8jf771.pdf

Team using IQAN system (top right corner): https://engineering.purdue.edu/ABE/InfoFor/CurrentStudents/SeniorProjects/2012/GeskeLamneckSparenbergEtAl

Team using discrete logic (page 19): http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/86206/ME450?sequence=1