Smart Glove: A Cost-Effective and Intuitive Interface for Advanced Drone Control

Recent years have witnessed the development of human-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) interfaces to meet the growing demand for intuitive and efficient solutions in UAV piloting. In this paper, we propose a novel Smart Glove v 1.0 prototype for advanced drone gesture control, leveraging key low-cost components such as Arduino Nano to process data, MPU6050 to detect hand movements, flexible sensors for easy throttle control, and the nRF24L01 module for wireless communication. The proposed research highlights the design methodology of reporting flight tests associated with simulation findings to demonstrate the characteristics of Smart Glove v1.0 in terms of intuitive, responsive, and hands-free piloting gesture interface. We aim to make the drone piloting experience more enjoyable and leverage ergonomics by adapting to the pilot’s preferred position. The overall research project points to a seedbed for future solutions, eventually extending its applications to medicine, space, and the metaverse.