Gloves which transform hand gestures into music by using sensors will soon be available to the public.
Scientists have been working for ten years to develop the Mi.Mu gloves which translate movements of the hand into complex music compositions.
The project is the brainchild of Grammy-award winning artist Imogen Heap, who spearheaded the project along with a team of tech specialists and textile designers.
Wearers can perform drum beats with the beat of a fist or the flick of a wrist along with vocal fades and whole string ensembles.
Only a handful of specially selected musicians have had access to the technology until now including pop star Ariana Grande, who performed wearing the gloves on her 2015 world tour.
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Gloves which transform hand gestures into music by using sensors will soon be available to the public. Grammy-award winning artist Imogen Heap (pictured) spearheaded the project along with her team of tech specialists, textile designers and artists
The gloves use artificial intelligence (AI) and wireless Wi-Fi communication to interact with computer music software.
Special sensors measure the bend of the fingers and motion of the arms or hands, which the artist can then programme to correspond with a specific audio effect.
Around 30 pairs of these prototype / first-generation gloves were made and were essentially hacked together.
Because they were mostly intended as little more than custom prototypes for touring musicians, the initial models cost £5,000 (around $6,400).
Singer- songwriter Kris Halpin - whose cerebral palsy has affected his ability to play traditional instruments - continues to make music with the gloves.
This enables them to perform complex soundscapes without crouching over a laptop and create music in a more 'human' way.
The gloves can be ordered from the official website from July 1st costing £2,500 ($3,300) for the pair, or £1,250 ($1,630) for each glove.
'It costs about the same as a high-end piece of music gear,' according to Mi.Mu managing director Dr Adam Stark.
Dr Stark told the Standard: 'As a company we don't make gloves, we make ways for people to express themselves through movement.'
Dr Stark said the technology was 'breaking down barriers in music' and pushing people to experiment in new and exciting ways.
