Published September 5, 2025

The Hands Can Tell A Lot

Interactive scenography: flex-sensor glove links movement to mechanisms with biomaterials, animating living-like, responsive forms.

AdvancedFull instructions provided20 hours48

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C3

SG90 Micro-servo motor

Through Hole Resistor, 6.8 kohm

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

THE HANDS CAN TELL A LOT ¶

Hands are storytellers, carrying the imprints of movement, memory, and time. They shape the world, touch, create, and hold the invisible traces of existence. The Hands Can Tell a Lot explores this silent language—where every crease, every shift of the skin becomes a record of experience. This project transforms movement into a living dialogue, an ephemeral scenography where the body's gestures take form beyond the body itself. Inspired by the textures of human skin, the intricate patterns of veins, and the organic way material folds and unfolds, the installation reveals how touch leaves an imprint, how motion becomes a memory. It is an exploration of how the most subtle movements, the most imperceptible gestures, can translate into something tangible—how the body’s language extends beyond its physical boundaries.

At the heart of this work is a delicate system of motion and response. A glove embedded with self-made flex sensors—crafted from conductive fabric and velostat—translates the slightest bending of fingers into an electrical signal. This signal moves through a network of microcontrollers - Xiao ESP32C3, triggering servo motors that animate an array of biofabricated structures. These structures, carefully designed and folded, respond like living forms—breathing, shifting, expanding in reaction to the hand’s movement. The material itself is an innovation: a specially developed bioplastic formula, improved for greater flexibility and resilience, allowing it to bend and recover like organic tissue. This creates an intimate feedback loop between the body and the environment, where human gestures set the rhythm of the material’s transformation.

The installation is not a direct mirroring of motion but rather an interpretation, a dialogue between the seen and the unseen. Five moving structures extend and animate as fingers flex, while others remain still—silent witnesses to the motion unfolding around them. This contrast between movement and stillness, action and memory, reflects the way gestures leave lasting impressions on the world. The response is not rigid or mechanical but fluid, akin to the way the body itself adapts, learns, and transforms over time. The biofabricated skin, like real skin, carries the traces of interaction, absorbing movement and reshaping itself in an ever-evolving state.<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nxX14_c0BdY?si=XITE67cHxwNn0xKL" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Hands Can Tell a Lot by Anoush Arshakyan

For a closer look at the full making journey, steps, and techniques, explore the Development section in my Fabricademy webpage.

m a t e r I a l s ¶

🧤 g l o v e ¶

Materials:

Lycra mesh (skin color)
Threads (skin color)
Flex sensors:
Conductive fabric
Conductive fabric
Velostat
Velostat
Silicon-covered conductive wires
Metallic buttons ×10
Resistors ×5

Electronics: - Microcontroller board: Xiao ESP32C3 (FabriXiao) - Battery: LiPo 3.7V

🌀 o r I g a m i. t e s s e l l a t I o n ¶

Recipe Materials:

Sodium alginate
Gelatine
Glycerine
Water

Forming Materials:

Hoop (for casting)
Faux leather (base surface)
Baking paper (release layer)
Plastic sheet (for structural base)

Machines Used:

Vinyl cutter (to crease the plastic)
Laser cutter (to cut large hoops)

⚙️ m e c h a n I s m s ¶

Structural Materials:

Acrylic sheet (3mm)
Bolts and nuts (3D printed)

Electronics:

Xiao ESP32C3
ESP32C3 Super Mini
Servo motors

Code

DIY flex sensors Sender Code

// Analog Flex Sensor Pins
const int ANALOG_FLEX1 = A0;  // Flex sensor 1 (analog)
const int ANALOG_FLEX2 = A1;  // Flex sensor 2 (analog)
const int ANALOG_FLEX3 = A2;  // Flex sensor 3 (analog)

// Digital Flex Sensor Pin
const int DIGITAL_FLEX = 6;   // D4 = GPIO6
const int LED_PIN = 10;       // Feedback LED

// Calibration (adjust these based on your sensor readings)
const int BENT_THRESHOLD = 150;  // Analog threshold for bent state

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  while (!Serial); // Wait for serial connection
  
  // Initialize pins
  pinMode(DIGITAL_FLEX, INPUT);
  pinMode(LED_PIN, OUTPUT);
  
  Serial.println("Flex Sensor Monitoring System");
  Serial.println("----------------------------");
}

void loop() {
  // Read analog sensors
  int flex1Value = analogRead(ANALOG_FLEX1);
  int flex2Value = analogRead(ANALOG_FLEX2);
  int flex3Value = analogRead(ANALOG_FLEX3);
  
  // Read digital sensor
  int flex4State = digitalRead(DIGITAL_FLEX);
  digitalWrite(LED_PIN, flex4State); // LED mirrors D4 state

  // Print all values to Serial Monitor
  Serial.print("A0: ");
  printAnalogState(flex1Value);
  
  Serial.print(" | A1: ");
  printAnalogState(flex2Value);
  
  Serial.print(" | A2: ");
  printAnalogState(flex3Value);
  
  Serial.print(" | D4: ");
  Serial.println(flex4State ? "BENT (HIGH)" : "STRAIGHT (LOW)");

  delay(200); // Update rate
}

// Helper function to print analog values with state
void printAnalogState(int value) {
  Serial.print(value);
  Serial.print(value > BENT_THRESHOLD ? "(Bent)" : "(Straight)");
}

Credits

Anoush Arshakyan

1 project • 3 followers

Leading Fabricademy in Armenia, I fuse sensors, machines, and materials to turn imagination into new ways of making.

The Hands Can Tell A Lot

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

THE HANDS CAN TELL A LOT ¶

m a t e r I a l s ¶

🧤 g l o v e ¶

🌀 o r I g a m i. t e s s e l l a t I o n ¶

⚙️ m e c h a n I s m s ¶

Schematics

Xiao ESP32C3 pinout

Code

DIY flex sensors Sender Code

Credits

Anoush Arshakyan

Comments

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The Hands Can Tell A Lot

The Hands Can Tell A Lot

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

THE HANDS CAN TELL A LOT ¶

m a t e r I a l s ¶

🧤 g l o v e ¶

🌀 o r I g a m i. t e s s e l l a t I o n ¶

⚙️ m e c h a n I s m s ¶

Schematics

Xiao ESP32C3 pinout

Code

DIY flex sensors Sender Code

Credits

Anoush Arshakyan

Comments

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