Wearable Tech: Bryan Cera's Glove One Works Like A Mobile Phone (VIDEO)

Talk to the hand -- literally. Users of a new prototype for a mobile phone must talk to their hand to make a call.

Glove One, created by artist Bryan Cera as part of his masters' thesis project, is a mobile phone worn as a mechanical glove. The iron-man-like device allows users to dial out using buttons (located on the underside of the finger attachments) and speak to callers through the receiver on the pinkie.

How do you speak into the receiver, you may be wondering? By making a Y-shape with your hand: Fist clenched, thumb and pinkie outstretched; it's the widely recognized hand sign for "phone."

In the video above, Cera demonstrates how to use the prototype, from inserting a sim card to successfully dialing out.

Cera created the device out of parts from a 3D printer for his thesis project, "Gadgets for Remembering the Future," for the University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts. He explained the motivation behind Glove One on his website:

Glove One is a wearable mobile communication device. It presents a futile and fragile technology with which to augment ourselves. A cell phone which, in order to use, one must sacrifice their hand. It is both the literalization of Sherry Turkle’s notion of technology as a “phantom limb”, in how we augment ourselves through an ambivalent reliance on it, as well as a celebration of the freedom we seek in our devices. Emotional investment becomes physical, as the functionality of the device depends on the dysfunctionality of the wearer. While we enjoy the fantasies they offer, we rethink the technologies we construct and reflect on how they construct us.

Glove One is not an exercise in innovation, but rather this project asks the question "What are we willing to sacrifice in order to participate in technology and social media?"

Cera's glove is not currently in production, but interested users can sign up on his website to receive updates on how to make their own. That's only if you want to turn your entire hand into a mobile phone without all the useful smart phone apps.

Glove One is the latest in a long line of wearable tech options. Google's Project Glass prototype, which made waves in April, is arguably the most highly-anticipated concept in development. Other geeky gadgets range from Android-powered watches tricked out with apps to smart clothing and wristbands that monitor health stats.

Check out the gallery below to see some other wearable tech options.

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• Google Project Glass

  Google's Android operating system allows user to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/project-glass-google_n_1403174.html" target="_hplink">interact with app icons</a> through the frameless, glassless interface, effectively augmenting reality.

• Android Watch

  WiMM Lab's One gives users access to several smart phone apps on their wrist with speciality <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/01/13/wimm-one-android-watch/#43347WiMM-One-Charging-View" target="_hplink">Android-powered smart watches</a>.

• E-Bra

  From the University of Arkansas, this e-bra <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/e-bra-tracks-health-stats-sends-smartphone-replace-conventional-blood-pressure-monitors-article-1.1076442" target="_hplink">tracks your health stats</a>, such as your heart rate, and sends them to your smart phone for tracking and number crunching.

• Digital Ticket Wristband For Concerts

  MissionTix recently introduced a <a href="http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-05-02/business/bal-wristband-tickets-by-missiontix-20120502_1_wristband-new-tickets-concert-goers" target="_hplink">reusable digital wristband</a> concert-goers can wear so they don't lose track of their ticket during the show.

• Vuzix Smart Glasses

  The functional prototype seen in the video was originally developed for the military. Wearers view a <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/12/vuzix-augmented-reality-smart-glasses-prototype-hands-on-video/" target="_hplink">1.4mm holographic picture</a> through a special lens, which is attached to the powerhouse of the gadget -- a proprietary display driver.

• Nike+ FuelBand

  The wristband monitors your activity throughout the day and <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/nike-fuelband-the-wearable-fitness-computer/12813" target="_hplink">calculates your your "NikeFuel" score</a>, based on your rate of motion and oxygen consumption, along with calories burned and number of steps taken.

• Dancepants Kinetic Music Player

  These speciality pants require you to keep running in order to <a href="http://www.ecouterre.com/power-your-music-player-with-your-running-pants/" target="_hplink">keep the music pumping</a>. (Photo via Designboom.com, designers: Inesa Malafej, Inesa Malafej and Arunas Sukarevicius)

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Comments

[onionboy]

11:14 PM on 05/16/2012

It looks like hi-tech S&M gear.

[Drewcifer13]

08:39 PM on 05/16/2012

This reminds me of the old Nintendo game glove, and not in a good way. It is not a stand alone phone...? really? a good blue tooth headset would leave BOTH hands free and unencumbered, and would be cheaper. This is a bad idea, that's past its time...

[skerge]

06:22 PM on 05/16/2012

That's pretty cool maybe not in its current state but clearly everything in the future will be like this or the google glasses or even part of your body.

[mww1017]

11:22 PM on 05/15/2012

Stupid. Just in the way if you're not on the phone.

[pooonshu]

10:32 PM on 05/15/2012

Very cool that he could make this out of printer parts. Damn near useless, but cool.

[harleyatl]

10:04 PM on 05/15/2012

This is nothing new.... when it comes to loan modifications, Bank of America has been saying "talk to the hand" for years.

[MrAmericanMadeOnly]

08:34 PM on 05/15/2012

If you think his Glove # 1 is a good thing, His Glove # 2 for the other hand is Even Better.!
It has a Fur Lined Palm, and Small Vibrators in the fingers.... So you can talk with one hand, and Consee....... Consee.....Conseeee....... conceeeeytrrraaaa...... Conceetrraate...... Concentrate.... with the other Hand while you Drive.. ! ! ! ! ...

....... (. Sorry, but at Least I DON'T TEXT while I am Driving. ! ! . )

[bshul]

08:10 PM on 05/15/2012

Everything old is new again.....I wonder where Cera and Iphone Siri got their ideas....maybe from here...... Check out "Demon with a Glass Hand" (Outer Limits Series) on Youtube

[jsgaetano]

08:03 PM on 05/15/2012

But when there's tech like Microsoft's Kinect, why even bother with something bulky like a glove? Get something you put on your wrist, and have it figure out what your fingers are doing.

[mscellanus]

06:07 PM on 05/15/2012

Perhaps Spiderman can have a use for it.

[mscellanus]

06:05 PM on 05/15/2012

Here I thought they came up with a micro chip inserted in a person's palm?

[Canefighter]

05:09 PM on 05/15/2012

But will it have a Booger picking app?

[bellsblu2]

04:49 PM on 05/15/2012

Looks like someething out of a 1950's movie.

Why not just make an ear plug that features Siri? (no buttons, no switches, no cables, no plugs... You just say on and answer, or dial)

[jsgaetano]

08:05 PM on 05/15/2012

What I hate most about this idea is it requires you to use your hand. Heck, my cell phone doesn't even require me to disable my hand to use it- I can either use my hands-free device, or hold it against my ear with my shoulder. Or just use the speakerphone feature.

[bellsblu2]

10:01 AM on 05/16/2012

My thoughts exactly.

This needs to be re-thought....(unless the buyer is heavily into "retro" devices)

[belldn3]

04:43 PM on 05/15/2012

Play with it, but don't talk to it.

[Lahonda]

04:39 PM on 05/15/2012

Um, no.