Building unobtrusive wearable devices: an ergonomic cybernetic glove

Usually, experts on wearable technologies decide the physiognomy of the designed devices following their opinion or intuition. In general, no study with real users is conducted to ensure the proposed device is ergonomic. This situation is especially critical when working on cybernetic gloves, since the hand performs high precision movements and has a high sensitivity. Therefore, in this paper we present a novel prototype of cybernetic glove, based on RFID readers and other sensors. Our proposal includes a study about electronic circuit integration in fabrics in order to increase the integration level. Moreover, an experimental validation was conducted in order to analyze which is the best position for the processing device in a cybernetic glove in order to create an ergonomic device by offering four different implementations.