Robotics has come a far way from being just a concept and now we are witnessing a rise in applications of robots. The latest installment comes in the form of a robotic glove known as ‘Teacher’. The Teacher improves the drawing skills of users by forcing them to perform particular motions again and again, which are then transferred to the muscle memory of your hand. As a result, you’re able to draw free-hand.
The glove was developed as part of graduation thesis by an engineering student, Saurabh Datta, from the Institute of Interaction Design Copenhagen. The glove was initially designed to help users learn how to play piano and now it has been modified to teach them how to draw through repetition process.
The robotic glove basically forces the user to execute a particular set of drawing movements over and over. Once these movements are learned by the user’s fingers, the user is able to do the same movement without using the glove – naturally perform the movements. The aim behind this glove is to program the user so that the lines being drawn can improve in aesthetics. The glove doesn’t improve or hinder the creative process so that’s totally up to the user.
Datta says, “The aim of this system and software was to understand the negotiations people make when machine and humans have different perspective and same goal. How they complement each other or counter each other.”
The glove is just a prototype so far and you shouldn’t expect it to hit the market anytime soon. It was created as part of a study to understand human-robot-interactions to allow for defining lines that would be helpful in future research. The findings were surprising as most people who used the glove end up fighting the robot’s directions for movements and the haptic feedback.
This information will prove really helpful when forced feedback enabled systems shall be designed in future. Fingers crossed for those times!
