Welcome to another chapter of Input Origins, where we rewind to the moments that changed how we interact with technology.
Today, we’re looking at one of the very first gesture control input methods - gloves.
Source: 1987 Promotional video of VPL Research
It all started in 1977 with the Sayre Glove, when early pioneers strapped sensors to their fingers, turning simple hand movements into digital commands.
It Is 1977
Star Wars just hit theaters, disco fever is at its peak, and over at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, something revolutionary is taking shape—not on a screen, but on a hand.
Enter the Sayre Glove, the first device to translate finger movements into digital signals. This glove used flexible sensors to detect how fingers bent, transforming gestures into commands.
It wasn’t flashy, but it was groundbreaking - designed for researchers exploring the frontier of human-computer interaction, long before the technology reached the masses.
Not Just for Researchers:
The Power Glove
The 1989 Nintendo Power Glove
By 1989, gesture-based input wasn’t just for researchers—it was about to hit living rooms.
The Nintendo Power Glove, the first mass-market gesture controller. It was based on the technology of the Sayre glove but heavily modified to work with the limited hardware of consumer gaming systems.
It was a bold experiment—too ambitious for its era. The Power Glove’s imprecise tracking and steep learning curve frustrated players, but its vision was undeniable. It introduced millions to the dream of controlling computers with a flick of the wrist. Decades later, that dream is becoming reality!
From Gloves to Wristbands
The dream of controlling computers with a flick of the wrist never faded - it evolved.
What began with clunky, wired gloves has transformed into something seamless, intuitive, and invisible to the eye. Mudra takes the vision of the Sayre Glove and the Power Glove to its logical conclusion: true hands-free control without the bulk.
By reading your neural signals directly from your wrist, Mudra turns simple finger movements into precise digital commands. No gloves, no cameras. The future of gesture control isn’t coming.
It’s already here!
Order your own Mudra Band or Mudra Link now!
