5DT Data Glove Ultra

5DT Data Glove Ultra

The 5DT Data Glove Ultra is a wired or optionally wireless sensor glove designed to capture finger movements. It is available with either 5 or 14 fiber-optic sensors. The 5DT Data Glove 14 Ultra measures finger flexion at two points and finger extension, making it suitable for use in animation, motion capture, biomechanical research, robotics, gesture control systems, and VR applications.

However, it is not a modern "put-on and play" VR controller. It is primarily a measurement device for laboratories and developers, requiring calibration, software integration, and—in many applications—an additional hand tracking system.

Technical Specifications

Variants: 5DT Data Glove 5 Ultra and 5DT Data Glove 14 Ultra.
Right- and left-handed versions available.
Material: Black, elastic Lycra.
Officially referred to as "one size fits many," meaning one size fits many hands.
Sensor technology: Fiber-optic bend sensors.
Converter resolution: 12-bit A/D, i.e., values ​​from 0 to 4095.
Typical usable range according to the datasheet: approximately 10 bits.
Minimum dynamic range specified in the manual: 8 bits.
Standard interface: USB 1.1 Full Speed.
Wired version power supply: Directly via USB.
Optional interface: RS-232 via the 5DT Data Glove Ultra Serial Interface Kit. RS-232 parameters: 115,200 bps, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, and no hardware flow control.
Optional wireless transmission: 2.4 GHz Bluetooth headset.
Declared range of the wireless headset: up to 20 meters.
Declared operating time of the wireless headset: approximately 8 hours on a single battery.
One wireless headset supports two gloves simultaneously.
Built-in processor.
Automatic and manual calibration.
Ability to work with multiple gloves on a single computer.
Ability to transfer data via TCP/IP using GloveManager.

Sampling Rate – Documentation Discrepancy

The official datasheet specifies a minimum of 75 Hz, while the v1.3 manual specifies sampling the entire hand at least 60 times per second. The manufacturer does not explain this difference on the current product page.

Version 14 Ultra Sensor System

The 14 Ultra uses:
10 flexion measurement points – two for each finger,
4 finger spread sensors,
two-point thumb flexion measurement,
abduction measurement between the thumb and index finger,
spread measurement for subsequent finger pairs.

This results in a total of 14 independent measurement channels. The glove primarily measures the local configuration of the fingers; the manufacturer does not describe it as a standalone system for full hand tracking in six degrees of freedom (6DoF). Determining the position and orientation of the entire hand in VR space will typically require an additional optical, inertial, or motion capture tracker.

Software

Software provided or made available by 5DT
GloveManager – glove diagnostics, sensor data viewing, calibration, configuration saving, and data logging.
Glove Demo – 3D hand visualization demonstration.
C++ SDK.
C# driver for Microsoft .NET 2.0 and later, Mono, and Unity.
64-bit C# driver.
32- and 64-bit Windows drivers.
Linux driver.
macOS driver.
Python driver for Windows.
64-bit MATLAB plug-in for C/C++.
Source code for the demo application.
Integration with Siemens Jack 7 and 8.
Optional Autodesk MotionBuilder driver.
Old MotionBuilder plug-ins publicly released until the 2019 release.
3D Studio Max 6 plug-in described as an unsupported beta version.

SDK – Software Development Kit means a set of libraries, documentation and examples that allow the programmer to read data from the glove and use it in their own application.