Qwiic Flex Glove Controller Hookup Guide

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Contributors: Englandsaurus
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Introduction

Flex sensors are great for telling how bent something is in a project, but we've been running into issues with durability when using them in wearable applications like gloves. The Qwiic Flex Glove Controller isolates the weak point to allow for more permanent flex sensor applications. The board has an onboard ADS1015 ADC to I2C so we can get a whole bunch of analog inputs without touching our microcontroller's ADC pins.

SparkFun Qwiic Flex Glove Controller

SEN-14666
1

In this hookup guide, we'll figure out how to pull values from our fingers as well as calibrate the sensor for our range of motion. We'll also cover recommended placement and installation to implement these into gloves.

Required Materials

To get started, you'll need a microcontroller to, well, control everything.

SparkFun RedBoard - Programmed with Arduino

SparkFun RedBoard - Programmed with Arduino

DEV-13975
$21.50
50
SparkFun ESP32 Thing

SparkFun ESP32 Thing

DEV-13907
$23.50
69

Particle Photon (Headers)

WRL-13774
32 Retired

Raspberry Pi 3

DEV-13825
92 Retired

Now to get into the Qwiic ecosystem, the key will be one of the following Qwiic shields to match your preference of microcontroller:

SparkFun Qwiic HAT for Raspberry Pi

SparkFun Qwiic HAT for Raspberry Pi

DEV-14459
$6.50
5
SparkFun Qwiic Shield for Arduino

SparkFun Qwiic Shield for Arduino

DEV-14352
$7.50
9

SparkFun Qwiic Shield for Photon

DEV-14477
Retired

You will also need a Qwiic cable to connect the shield to your sensor, choose a length that suits your needs.

Qwiic Cable - 100mm

Qwiic Cable - 100mm

PRT-14427
$1.50
Qwiic Cable - 50mm

Qwiic Cable - 50mm

PRT-14426
$0.95

Qwiic Cable - 200mm

PRT-14428
Retired

Qwiic Cable - 500mm

PRT-14429
1 Retired

If you don't have a sewing needle, we'd recommend grabbing one if you're trying to add these flex sensors to some gloves.

Needle Set

Needle Set

TOL-10405
$2.10

Suggested Reading

If you aren't familiar with the Qwiic system, we recommend reading here for an overview.

Qwiic Connect System
Qwiic Connect System

We would also recommend taking a look at the hookup guide for the Qwiic Shield if you haven't already. Brushing up on your skills in I2C is also recommended, as all Qwiic sensors are I2C.

I2C

An introduction to I2C, one of the main embedded communications protocols in use today.

Serial Terminal Basics

This tutorial will show you how to communicate with your serial devices using a variety of terminal emulator applications.

Qwiic Shield for Arduino & Photon Hookup Guide

Get started with our Qwiic ecosystem with the Qwiic shield for Arduino or Photon.

You'll also most likely want to sew these boards into a wearable project, so if you've never picked up a needle and thread before, we'd recommend checking out a how-to on hand sewing.