TIME REQUIRED:
A Weekend
DIFFICULTY:
Advanced
COST:
$20–$60
MATERIALS
For each glove:
» Potentiometers, 10kΩ, linear taper (5)
such as Amazon B07VQTFFGC or Aliexpress
32869141485
» Retractable badge reels (5) used for their
rotary springs, such as Amazon B0732Z7T8W
» Servomotors, 9g (5) for force feedback haptics
» Arduino Nano or ESP32 microcontroller
board or clones; use ESP32 for Bluetooth
support
» 3D printed parts: spools, tensioners, finger
end caps, etc. Download the free files for
printing at github.com/LucidVR/lucidgloves-
hardware.
» A comfortable glove made of material you can
glue onto
» Elastic for mounting controllers/trackers
» Jumper wires, breadboards, JST connectors,
etc. depending on wiring method of choice
» Batteries (optional) USB battery bank or 4×AA
batteries for wireless operation
TOOLS
» 3D printer I use an Ender 3.
» Hot glue gun
» VR-ready PC with any PC-VR headset Oculus
Rift/Quest, Valve Index, HTC Vive, etc.
» Soldering iron and/or crimping kit (optional)
for more robust wiring
LUCAS VRTECH is a computer
science student at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, a YouTuber
and TikTok creator, and creator of
the open-source hardware project
LucidVR which aims to make new
VR technology more accessible.
things, and they still cost hundreds or thousands.
I really wanted to experience using VR gloves,
so I decided to take a shot at building a pair for
myself. It started as just a shower-thought, then
some napkin drawings, and then eventually I
set out to actually build, wire, and program a
prototype of my gloves that actually worked
(Figure
A
). And instead of thousands of dollars, I
was able to build a pair for just $22.
FINGER TRACKING FOR CHEAP
Some gloves use flex sensors to detect finger
position, but these are expensive, about $10
each — that would be $100 or more for the
whole hand. Instead, the LucidVR haptic gloves
track your fingers using spools of string that are
attached to the end of each finger (Figure
B
).
As a finger moves, the string gets pulled out of
the spool, rotating a potentiometer (Figures
C
69
make.co
Prototype 2, grabbing objects in-game in Unity. It works!
Prototype 3, with 5 spring-loaded finger tracking spools.
Each 3D-printed spool mounts to an ordinary
potentiometer shaft.
A
B
C
M78_068-71_VRgloves_F1.indd 69M78_068-71_VRgloves_F1.indd 69 7/11/21 11:23 AM7/11/21 11:23 AM
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