The last couple of years hasn’t seen much innovation in the electric skateboard industry. Yes, we have seen incremental improvements to battery cells, motors and ESC’s, but I can’t point to something and say, “that changes everything”.
That’s why I am really excited about the new Possway Air Glove.
It is a whole new way of controlling your electric skateboard using sensors attached to your hand.
Traditionally, you controlled your electric skateboard with a handheld remote. But now, you can ditch the remote and essentially ride around ‘handsfree’.
The tech used to make this thing is really interesting. And keep in mind that this is the first iteration of a technology that I believe will likely be the normal in a few years time.
How To Wear The Possway Air Glove?
Putting it on for the first time was a little puzzling because of all of the appendages and holes, but after I watched the instructional video, it made a lot of sense and it fit nice and comfortably.
The first step is to make sure the ‘head unit’ is on your palm with the large hole on your thumb side.
Slip your thumb into the hole and attach the large velcro straps around your hand.
Then it’s easy enough to grab the ‘tentacles’ I like to call them and fix them to your thumb and index finger.
That’s it, you have installed the Air Glove.
To pair it to your eBoard, long press the power button on your electric skateboard until it starts flashing.
Click the power button on the Air Glove once to turn it on, then click the Power and Mode button on the Air Glove once (without holding). This will put it into Pairing mode and it wil automatically pick up your eboard and connect.
The Air Glove will have all of the same functionality that your regular remote has, so you can cycle through the speed and braking modes, check your speed, trip distance and the battery levels.
Now it’s all setup, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you flip your board upside down so the wheels are facing the sky and play around with the Air Glove and get a feel for how the acceleration and braking works before you take it for a ride.
How Does The Possway Air Glove Work?
The way it works is that there are three sensors.
One in the index finger and two in the thumb, one towards the tip of your thumb and the other closer to your thumb knuckle.
You control the acceleration by varying the distance between your index finger and the tip of your thumb.
The closer you bring these two points together, the faster you will accelerate.
When you bring your finger closer to the sensor at the thumb knuckle, it will apply the brakes.
Watch the video to see exactly how it works, it makes a lot more sense than trying to explain it.
So, what is it like to ride with it?
I had some initial worries.
Wouldn’t it be extremely hard to keep my fingers at a consistent distance apart while riding? Especially when going over bumps, I feel like my fingers would jitter slightly, altering the speed.
At first, yeah it was totally weird, but after I kind of got the hang of it, it felt futuristic to be controlling and electric skateboard with my fingers. I felt like Tom Cruise in Minority Report.
Applying and releasing the accelerator was fine. It was applying the brakes that became the tricky part.
I would often miss the brake sensor because the point at which the brakes are applied is very narrow. So it’s not only tricky to find the point, but when you do the brakes come on quite quickly.
To be fair, I didn’t ride for a prolonged period of time, but I have no doubt that if I used the Air Glove everyday, I would eventually build the muscle memory to nail it every time.
The other thing is that when I jump off the board to grab my phone out of my pocket or something from my backpack, the Air Glove will activate if I bring my fingers together.
I would love to see Possway implement a temporary deactivation mode that you can easily toggle.
I think that would be the main reason to use the glove. To be able to have the freedom to jump off the board and quickly deactivate it so you can use your hands without needing to put a remote down.
All of this said, I think the Air Glove is definitely on the right track.
It’s bringing something new and interesting to electric skateboarding that if researched and improved on will eventually become a great way to control your electric skateboard..
Possway are one to watch in 2023!
