NASA Is Developing Smart Gloves That Let Astronauts Control Drones From Afar

Experts from SETI Institute and NASA have created smart gloves for astronauts that can work like magic. With the gloves, the wearers can control a robot or a drone with only one hand. This creation can be handy in NASA’s future plans to explore Mars and the Moon.

Recently, NASA introduced a new spacesuit that it plans to have astronauts wear on the Artemis mission to the Moon. As they develop the suit, one of the obstacles is how astronauts can perform precise hand movements while they are in that pressurized environment. One of the solutions is to let the wearers take control of the pressure inside so that they can lower it whenever they need to perform specific tasks.

The new smart gloves are another way to tackle the issue. It allows astronauts to control machinery through hand gestures instead of pressing buttons. NASA took the inspiration from a pair of gloves Ntention, a Norway-based startup, developed to let people control drones on Earth.

The smart gloves have integrated sensors that can detect even small movements of the hand. The output of the sensors will be analyzed by a microcontroller. The gloves have been tested with controlling drones on Earth and they work just as expected. However, NASA will have to adjust the design as the gravity and atmosphere on Mars will be different.

According to Dr. Pascal Lee, SETI Institute’s planetary scientist, astronauts need to fly drones for many reasons. For example, when they want to collect a sample that is too far away or when the subject is in a contaminated environment. NASA has been looking into the possibility of using robots in various tasks, including inspecting, scouting, surveying, sampling, fetching, and surveying. Flying a drone is used to be prohibited in India but the rules have been changed, That’s why you can now start investing in drone cameras and take breathtaking shots and shooting awesome videos. Here’s drone camera price in India.