The Portuguese company Nuada are giving users the chance to improve our hand strength and coordination with their smart glove.
Created by Filipe Quinaz and Vitor Crespo, Nuada is a seed-funded company that has created this piece of hardware which augments the movements of your palm and digits, acting as an electromechanical support system that lets you perform (almost) superhuman feats. The glove contains electromagnetic tendons that help the hand to open and close and perform basic motions, informing doctors about the users pull strength, dexterity and other metrics.
This means that if your hand strength is reduced due to illness or injury, the smart glove can help you out. Similarly, if you’re doing heavy manual work with your hands it allows you to hold things with less muscle fatigue, making you work faster.
“We then use our own electromechanical system to support the user in the movement he wants to do,” said Quinaz. “This makes us able to support incredible weights with a small system, that needs much less energy to function. We can build the first mass adopted exoskeleton solutions with our technology.”
The innovative team started the project at University after which it won the Microsoft Imagine cup and came to Seattle where it took them two years to finalize the glove. As of yet no pricing information has been released but the team are hoping that it can be used for therapeutic reasons soon, allowing those with limited hand movements to regain some of their lost dexterity.
