Nintendo’s NES controller, which has had little use even though it looked undeniably cool, now has a new purpose 25 years after Lucas Barton fell for the Power Glove.
It can now be used to control drones. Nolan Moore, who is an electronic engineer, used the input device to develop a controller for the Parrot AR Drone quadcopter which uses hand gestures.
This enables the user to operate the drone with hand motions.
These drone controllers are designed after the Power Glove by Nintendo.
However, the engineer completely got rid of the inside of the glove to make room for more advanced control boards.
There are also some Wi-Fi transmitters and the fingers have inbuilt flex sensors.
The very first kind of controller utilised the popular American Power Glove which was manufactured by Mattel.
However, a later kind made use the same glove was designed to emulate the Japanese version of the controller by Nintendo, which Moore scooped on eBay.
If you are interested, you can keep up with Moore’s progress by following his project blog.
On the blog, Moore explains why he thought it was best to shift from Eagle to Kicad as the electronic design software of choice.
You can also learn about all the details about the component used to make the Power Glove.
Moore proudly displayed the final product the previous month, during the Maker Faire at the Bay Area. He simply made use of his hands, making what looked like aeroplane pretend movements to operate the drone.
The people watched as the little aircraft flew through the sky as if in a sci-fi movie.
