Design Summary - Analysis Draft #3

In the article entitled "Force-Sensing Gloves Cloud Control An iPhone By Detecting Gestures and How Objects Are Gripped," Owen (2019) mentions that Apple wanted to create a glove technically capable of engaging with technologies for individuals. This force sensing (FS) glove is made of fabric meshed with conductive layers that sense the forces applied in the glove when the user touches a surface. In addition, this glove will sense how much pressure is applied and the number of fingers used. The author also states that Apple will look at different ways a user can control an application without interacting with the touchscreen. The FS glove will include conductive strands that are woven together with normal threads and thus able to monitor contact outside while the inside contains sensors for compression from the fingers. According to Owen (2019) article, it also adds that FS glove has the capability to replace handheld controllers in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Although Owen (2019) explains the features, he does not explain the advantages of using the FS gloves.

Furthermore, there are many advantages for FS glove. For example, in the study by Ye, Seyedi, Cai, & Lai, (2015), where FS glove was invented for motorcycle riders. This study was conducted on the FS glove which was created for motorcycle riders due to the high risk of motorcycle accidents such as failure in human perception, decision errors and loss of control after an extensive ride. This article states that they were focusing on FS glove that was able to provide real-time feedback for adjustment of hand performance during the ride. Hence, with such problems, they had invented an FS glove where the accuracy of hand action improved up to “80 percent” and also will be able to work even in a high-speed working environment according to Ye et al., (2015) article. On top of that, the FS gloves are capable of tracking both force feedback and hand actions at the same time and thus these major feedback factors able to avoid expected accidents.

In addition, there were more advantages seen during the study of FS glove such as the study of Da Silva, Gonçalves, Mendes, & Correia (2011) where FS gloves has benefited the disabled patient. Due to the number of cases of stroke in the year 2010 “costing 73.7 billion dollars” according to Da Silva et al., (2011) article. This study uses the FS glove on stroke patient to monitor the patient’s hand in actual time. Individuals with a medical condition such as stroke will have limitations in hand movement to do the activity on their own. Hence, this FS glove was designed to be uncomplicated and simple for individuals with hand disabilities to use. Thus, glove preference of sizes, material and styles can be easily produced. Thus, this study shows the creation of FS gloves does benefit the patient and was a successful project.

Therefore, after looking through both articles of Ye et al., (2015) and Da Silva et al., (2011), both studies shows that the project of using FS gloves was a success and effective. Hence, looking back to Owen (2019) study planned, it may be a great plan which may bring great benefits and achievement such as the other studies. However, the study of Owen (2019) was not further reviewed. Calibration test was not done to define the baseline measurement to reduce inaccuracy which was done on both studies of Ye et al., (2015) and Da Silva et al., (2011). Therefore, the study of Owen (2019) may be considered incomplete and thus the outcome will be unknown. 

References:

Da Silva, A. F., Gonçalves, A. F., Mendes, P. M., & Correia, J. H. (2011). FBG sensing glove for monitoring hand posture. IEEE Sensors Journal, 11(10), 2442–2448. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2011.2138132

Owen, M. (2019). Force-sensing gloves could control an iPhone by detecting gestures and how objects are gripped. Appleinsider. Retrieved on 27 January 2020 from https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/04/18/force-sensing-gloves-could-control-an-iphone-by-detecting-gestures-and-how-objects-are-gripped 

Ye, Q., Seyedi, M., Cai, Z., & Lai, D. T. H. (2015). Force-sensing glove system for measurement of hand forces during motorbike riding. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/545643