New wearable device controls individual fingers for sign language, music

Humans use their fingers for some of their most delicate communication. Typing on a keyboard or phone, conversing through sign language, or performing on a guitar or piano require finely-tuned movement and coordination between multiple digits. But many of the technologies intended to control or augment these activities have struggled to recreate the precise gestures and motions they require. A new solution from the University of Chicago's  Human Computer Integration Laboratory , directed by Asst. Prof. Pedro Lopes , solves this problem with a combination of electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) and mechanical brakes. DextrEMS, a haptic device invented and developed by Lopes' students in the Department of Computer Science:  Romain Nith , Shan-Yuan Teng, Pengyu Li, and Yujie Tao, fits unobtrusively on a user's hand. As EMS electrodes on the forearm move fingers to their desired position, ratchet brakes at the finger joints lock them in the target gesture and restrict unwanted movement from other fingers.