spock-spaceglove

Current challenges and limitations:

• The spacesuit and spaceglove are relatively very rigid and make the normal human – machine interaction difficult.

• Analog controls and touchscreens are the most common UI onboard a spacecraft.

• The traditional UI’s require physical proximity with the instrument/device being used.

• Spacesuit is used when the astronaut is outside the main spacecraft, and precision control is imperative.

• For the first time, some innovations in consumer tech industry have outpaced the space research due to funding constraints, and can be leveraged in the latter.

Our solution:

Spock : Smart SpaceGlove that we have designed has a gesture control unit that senses EMG motor neuron activity from natural hand gestures performed by an astronaut in space and translates that into intended actions like maneuvering a rover, controlling a camera, activating sensors etc. beyond gestural control, a it is a complete voice-activated catalog containing information about spacecraft parts which is going to be helpful while performing repairs, it also serves as a navigational aid for astronauts out on a moon or mars walk.

Key Features Overview:

• Gesture mapping and control via EMG motor activity.
• Voice activated parts catalogue.
• Point-and-know Navigational control.
• Compass Control.
• Real-time Health Monitoring.
• Social Connectivity via Twitter.
• Take selfies and lots more!

The following are two main advantages which Spock offers :

1) EMG Gestures:

• Electromyography ( EMG ) electrical activity produced by the skeletal muscles.

• Sensor detects the electrical potential generated by muscle cells when these cells are electrically or neurologically activated.

• Our software interprets the different level of activity produced by different gestures and translates it into intended action

• Highly reliable as compared to other gesture technologies.

2) Voice Control:

The Speech Recognition API provided by Google and the TTS engine primarily control the voice control module of Spock. There are primarily two functions performed:

• Knowledge repository: The user can get information, location and other variables about the parts on the spacecraft etc.

• Navigational control: By using the device sensors, the user can get information about the coordinates and celestial bodies simply by pointing the glove in any direction.

• In-device actions: Certain commands have been programmed to perform internal actions like taking a selfie.

We believe that our concept behind Spock can provide a significant advantage over the legacy user interfaces like Analog and Touchscreen controls

Project Information

Resources