Low cost smart glove for remote control by the physically challenged

Physically challenged patients or bed-ridden patients often have to rely on others to operate switches for light, fan, TV etc. Remote controls do help such people. But, certain illnesses will not permit the patient to operate even a remote controller, due to lack of flexibility in the movement of the hands. Paralytic patients are a typical example. The solution for these people, would be a gesture controlled device, worn on their hands, wherein with a small movement of the finger, a relay can be made to activate a switch. This paper presents the development of a low cost smart glove designed to help a physically challenged person to perform simple operations like switching on a light, switching on the fan, ringing an alarm in case of an emergency etc. These actions can be performed by just a simple gesture like folding a finger and mapping the gestures to a suitable action. The device can be implemented by anybody to help the patients.