Audio-Visual Glove Controller
Right hand - 6DOR
One half of the controller is the Right hand which controls a low-pass filter, high-pass filter and a repeater effect. These three sound filters are used by tilting your hand to the left, right, and forward. The more you tilt your hand the stronger the effect is like a sound gradient. They are also able to overlap. This is made possible by attaching a 6DOR tilt sensor to the glove allowing it to measure movement on three translational axes (X,Y.Z)
Left hand - photocell
The other half on the controller is the Left glove which manages volume. When the sketch is started the photocell (small solar-panel) in the center of the palm reads the light values in the room and sets a base volume. Then when you close your hand slowly blocking light received by the sensor the volume gets quieter.
Building Around The Hand
Getting everything to work was quick at first. For the tilt sensor I needed two extra breadboards connected to the Arduino UNO. This was challenging to condense for the glove. I had to reduce the clunky wiring so that the glove could have dynamic movement. I ended up 3D printing a case for the Arduino that would be stationary with a six-foot cord of all the wires running to the sensor on the glove. Having the stationary block securely attached to the gloves via stronger and longer cords allowed for much more range of motion when controlling music.
Final Display
Soldering and Efficiency
After successfully wiring everything on a small scale, I needed to extend all the wiring six-feet to reach the Arduino case. I soldered smaller wires together making them all long enough. Since this is a project involving a lot of motion and potential tugging on wires, I soldered and glued wires into the case/motherboard as well as the sensors. Doing this made my wiring much more efficient and secure.
With a sturdy center console for the Arduino and the two gloves wired, my project was essentially complete. I used Processing (Java) to receive the light and tilt values, connecting them effects I created.
I presented this project connected to a projector and made a visual display with an orb that reacts when effects are used. When the left was was closing and lowering the volume the orb would shrink in size based on the same light values. When the right hand tilted it would change the color of the orb depending on the effect.
(video demonstration at top of page.)