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RallyPoint — The Computerized Combat Glove
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Mon Apr 28, 2008 01:44 PM
from the handling-the-situation dept.
from the handling-the-situation dept.
MIT's Technology Review is reporting that a new input device, designed for soldiers, may soon be making an appearance. The "RallyPoint," a glove designed to allow soldiers to easily interact with wearable systems via sensors, could allow soldiers a feature-rich input device without having to put down their weapon. "Some U.S. soldiers in Iraq are already equipped with wearable computer systems. But the lack of efficient input devices restricts their use to safer environments, such as the interior of a Humvee or a base station, where the soldier can set down his weapon and use the keyboard or mouse tethered to his body. Now RallyPoint, a startup based in Cambridge, MA, has developed a sensor-embedded glove that allows the soldier to easily view and navigate digital maps, activate radio communications, and send commands without having to take his hand off his weapon."
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Mobile: Clove 2 Bluetooth Dataglove For One-Handed Typing 72 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Clove 2 is a bluetooth dataglove used for one-handed typing. It uses a 31-combination finger-chording design with three modes to allow every key on a standard keyboard to be typed with minimal effort. The bluetooth functionality removes the need to tether it to a computer, and since it profiles as a standard HID Keyboard, a simple translation layer to perform key remapping, sticky modifiers, and mode switching is the only software required. It consists of three components: the glove itself, the bluetooth module, and a custom charger for the Bluetooth module. Video, pictures, and full plans and schematics on the project page." From that page: "Please be advised that the Clove 2 Bluetooth Dataglove is a personal project, not a commercial offering." I hope that gets corrected at some point!
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Yeah, right (Score:2, Funny)
I'm through being nice. (Score:2)
What about having Tony Stark design the interface.
Power Glove (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Gloves, in the desert. (Score:3, Insightful)
Sweat and grime will destroy them faster than they can make them.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Did you seriously think no one at RallyPoint had considered the kind of environment it would be used in? Did they simply forget the last four major battles the US has been involved in? All involved heat, sweat, and things we don't even want to think of.
Be sure to contact RallyPoint to pickup your pay check for a hard day's work.
when is it too much ? (Score:3, Insightful)
What happened to the days when you told a soldier where to be and who to shoot ? Technology is great and everything, but when your packing this solder down with all this extra equipment. Not to mention forcing him to learn these new complicated systems, at what point does it cease effectiveness. Give him a good weapon, that is light, and that wont fail. Give him a good flap jacket, then give him a good dependable communication device. One that prompts him based on his location, and mission. ie if you turn left instead of right it tells you without the need for some expensive device.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
How about a flak jacket [cbsnews.com]?
Re:when is it too much ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously? The complexities of warfare changed. People no long show up in parallel lines and keep shooting at one another until one side mostly kills the other. The other side rarely shows up an the appointed place any more.
Modern warfare involves people who don't announce their location, forces comprised of several (hopefully) cooperating forces, and a need to try to coordinate more facets. Calling in air strikes, keeping track of your own friendlies, your own location, and other things which change in the battlefield is a lot of stuff. Most conflicts nowadays are asymmetric -- you got big groups of well organized people fighting smaller groups who pop up and then disappear. With coalitions of militaries, fratricide can happen all too easy (and does).
When the people field testing it tell you, in all likelihood. People are trying to give them more information to be more effective at doing their job. How successful and given piece of kit is hard to predict. If it truly proves to be a burden during exercises, it likely gets scrapped.
Well, weapons, they got. Flak jackets, they got (unless you meant something made out of pancakes.
Basically, the more of an advantage you can give your guys, the more you keep them alive and able to continue doing what they do. If you can improve your situational awareness, you get better odds of doing that.
Cheers
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re:when is it too much ? (Score:5, Informative)
Swords were simpler than muskets.
Muskets were simpler than bolt action rifles.
Bolt action rifles were simpler than automatic weapons and so on...
If you want a real world scenario I think the best would be the designated radio man in German Panzers on the onset of WWII. Radios were complicated and you actually had to train a fellow very well to not understand and maintain the equipment but the language used was also very complicated to learn and understand. Other nations like France and Russia felt this was unneeded and had their tanks communicate line of sight with flags and flares.
However as history has shown us the German tanks (at least in the early parts of the war) bested both French and Russian tanks due to their superior coordination and fire control even though the early German tanks were often fielded smaller guns and thinner armor.
Seeing this success US, Russia, and the British quickly adapted radios for all their armored vehicles and were able to beat the Germans at their own game of blitzkreig.
The point is that if you do specialize in technologies that enhance communication and coordination that you will beat opponents that lack that technology even though they may have superior firepower and numbers.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
then give him a good dependable communication device. One that prompts him based on his location, and mission. ie if you turn left instead of right it tells you without the need for some expensive device.
It is a communication device. Wireless radio did a lot for comminications of foot troops, but it can be limited for an individual solider by a need for stealth, irrelevant chatter, and bad location guesses. Think if it as a twitter interface which will automatically insert GPS data. I could see messages like:
I'm sorry (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
This could be fun... point your finger for a few seconds of lead on target, then flip a bird and watch the RPGs go flying?
New key signals (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
translation (Score:2)
Translation: "Nobody other than the military had money to waste on this."
Really, there are too many demands on gloves and hands already to burden them with this. Sew this into jackets, arm bands, wrist bands, whatever, but not into gloves.
Works Great (Score:5, Interesting)
Does it (Score:2)
Anyway.. what happened to the kick their ass.. (Score:2, Funny)
As a 100 level paladin I must say that these new super-devices are all moot. You have your sword or m16/m4, you should act like a soldier either to die and or to resurrect. Anyway, I think from the safety of my mom basement that we should drop all weapons and use lightswo
Sure... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Fixed that for you.
Okay, I'll bite. (Score:2, Interesting)
Imagine a glove like this that would talk to your car via bluetooth so you could manipulate anything on the dashboard, from radio to GPS nav system without taking eyes off the road and hands off the wheel.
Imagine a worker in a manufacturing plant controlling robots and assembly lines from a computer h
so wait.... (Score:2)