Rock-Paper-Scissors Sensor Glove

Rock –Paper-Scissors is a hand game played by two or more players. It is often used as selection game for random selection of things just like coin flipping or throwing dice. Rock-Paper-Scissors Sensor Glove is a project where one can blend electronics with fun splendidly.

The project uses sensor gloves to track the user’s fingers and hand movements to determine the winner of the game. The bend in player’s finger is used to track the symbol entered and the acceleration of hand is used to determine the start or end of the game. While the hardware for the game is an innovation on the part of its designers, it uses settled, conventional rules to play the game where the representations are:

Rock; represented by making fist

Paper; represented by an open hand, with the fingers kept together

Scissors; represented by extending and separating only the index and middle fingers.

To indicate the starting of the game, the players are required to hit each other’s hand three times which their palm facing each other.

The project uses variable resistive flex sensors to track the fingers position of each player. The smart move here was the use of only two such sensors (one for index finger and one for ring finger) instead of five, thereby cutting cost and complexity of the project. Accelerometers are used to track the movements of hand. The outputs from each of these sensors and accelerometer are given to microcontroller Atmega644 for processing via analog to digital converter. Hence, each glove is fitted with two flex sensors, an accelerometer and 3 ADCs.

The signals generated from the two gloves are interpreted and analyzed in software. The software control for the project is divided into three stages:

1. Preparing the system for game play

2. Detecting the starting sequence for hand hits

3. Reading the player’s symbol and determining the winner.

A USB connection is used here to transfer signals from the MCU to the computer.