Is there a smart glove in your handsfree drone operational future?

There could be.

June 22, 2025 | Dave Clarke

This 'smart glove' could be the key to handsfree drone operations

European researchers from the Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, eCampus University, Novedrate, Italy, the Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy, the Institute for Systems Analysis and Computer Science, Italian National Research Council, Roma, Italy, and the Department of Computational Intelligence, Czestochowa University of Technology, Częstochowa, Poland have put their academic brains together to design a smart glove that will give operators of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) a means to operate their vehicles handsfree by use of what they’re calling a Smart Glove v1.0. It has advanced drone gesture control, flexible sensors for easy throttle control, and a means for wireless communication.

They have developed a low-price interface for high-tech drones by using cutting-edge motion sensors and wireless communication modules connected to a wearable glove. By pairing hardware design and sensor calibration phases, they developed an integrated device capable of providing intuitive flight control using just one hand, leaving the other free.

To enhance the glove’s versatility and adaptability, wearers can dynamically adjust the intervals in the gestures imparted to the glove through adaptive threshold mechanisms. By integrating the technology with other emerging technologies, such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence Smart Glove v1.0 can significantly contribute to a range of machine–human communications.

View the complete study here.