Self-powered glove-based intuitive interface for diversified control applications in real/cyber space

Present Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) that vary in shapes, operation schemes, and functions can be frequently found in our daily life, and the giant market demand has been pushing the development of the HMIs since the last decades. To greatly extend the communication channels between humans and external devices in a natural way, here we report an intuitive, self-powered, low-cost, and glove-based HMI towards diversified applications. A minimalist design based on the triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) in two configurations is proposed to balance the requirement on the full functionality and the simplified signal processing capacity of the HMIs. Each TENG sensor is composed of a PEDOT:PSS coated textile strip stitched onto the glove and a layer of silicone rubber thin film coated on the glove. The glove-based interface has been successfully demonstrated for wireless car control, wireless drone control, minigame control, VR game control, and cursor control for online shopping as well as alphabet writing with a simple and intuitive operation technique. This glove-based interface provides a novel minimalist design concept distinct from the present rigid and bulky HMIs to open up a new direction of the further development of the HMIs with advantages of flexibility/wearability, low cost, easy operation, simplified signal processing, and low power consumption.