If sensors become smaller and lighter
Applicable even to thin fashion gloves



Konkuk University Graduate School's Department of Smart ICT Convergence (Head Professor Kim Ji-in) announced on the 5th that a team led by student Kim Jin-young (Master's course) won the Grand Prize at the 'Creative Economy IoT (Internet of Things) Hackathon Season 3' held recently at the Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center.

In this competition held at the end of last month, organized by the Seoul Center for Creative Economy Innovation, Microsoft, and Magic Echo, a total of 130 participants formed 25 teams based on their respective roles as 'developers' and 'designers' to compete in developing IoT (Internet of Things) that combine 'fashion and wearables'.

At this competition, Konkuk University student team led by Kim Jin-young won the grand prize, the Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning Award, for developing a 'futuristic gesture recognition glove for droid control.' The Konkuk University team enhanced the completeness of the idea by directly developing a small droid capable of controlling the gesture-recognizing gloves.

Student Kim Jin-young explained the background of the project, stating, “With the rapid growth of wearable devices, we can predict a post-mobile era where smartphones and new devices are used together, and usage methods different from current smartphone UX will be required. Currently, devices such as droids and drones are controlled by linking them with smartphones, but this usage pattern involves the inconvenience of having to check both the smartphone and the control product at the same time. Therefore, I wanted to develop a gesture recognition glove that would allow these products to be operated via gestures rather than the smartphone, thereby resolving the existing inconvenience and enabling users to focus solely on the control product.”

He also suggested the potential for expanding the developed product, stating, “Currently, the size and weight of the sensors are somewhat high, so we developed the demonstration product as athletic gloves. However, if the sensors are miniaturized and lightweighted in the future, they can be fully applied to thin fashion gloves and could be used in future droids that will be controlled externally.”