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Since the advent of computing technologies, being able to interact with an electronic environment has been the center focus of a plethora of research projects. Doing things such as clicking and dragging elements of the environment (i.e. through a mouse) or inputting elements into the environment (i.e. through the keyboard), was initially sufficient due to the simplicity of the environment. However, with the increasing popularity of virtual reality environments, such simplistic interactive input devices are no longer adequate. In order to take advantage of this more “advanced” environment, a more intuitive device is needed, and it is within this context that the project takes place in.

The goal of this project is to design a wireless input device for the CAVE virtual reality environment. The current solutions for this problem are not adequate, due to their high cost and wired nature. By eliminating these two problems, this team hopes to develop a more widely useable device that incorporates all of the functionality that other solutions have included, and more. For ease of use, the device will be housed inside a pair of gloves and will wirelessly communicate to the CAVE. The software driver that accompanies the device will allow users to be able to define a series of hand gestures, which will then execute a program assigned to that gesture – essentially, this will allow users to manipulate the CAVE using only their hands and this device. Hopefully, the applications of this device will eventually expand beyond the researcher demographic to the general public.

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