May 20—ESPAÑOLA — It doesn’t feel like much.
The high-tech glove, developed by students from Northern New Mexico College and Española Valley High School, sends a gentle heartbeat to the meaty fingertips. The feeling is slightly less intense than the vibration of a mobile phone.
For nearly two years, the students have worked to reproduce a vibrating glove developed at Stanford University as a therapeutic device to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
They hope the project – and the mentorship opportunities between college and high school students – will encourage young people to pursue careers in science, technology, math and engineering. It will show them, “This is for me,” said Janice Badongen Patal-e, a teacher at Española Valley High School.
Early clinical trials at Stanford University’s School of Medicine show that pulsating gloves can alleviate some symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a movement disorder. Because the disease damages neurons in the brain, patients typically begin to experience movement disorders, imbalance, and muscle stiffness. Tremors and tremors, which often start in the hands, are among the main symptoms of the disease.
When worn consistently, Stanford researchers found, the vibrating gloves can reduce tremors, abnormal walking patterns and balance problems, among other symptoms of Parkinson’s.
After hearing about Stanford’s success with the glove, Northern New Mexico resident Minna Santos, whose husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2014, challenged Northern New Mexico College students to build their own version, said Steve Cox, associate professor of electrical engineering. Cox co-led the project with Badongen Patal-e and fellow Española Valley High teacher Lyne Salero.
The project, which began in January 2023, encouraged students to solve major engineering problems, Cox said.
First, the students had to figure out how to miniaturize the electronic components of the gloves. This was in large part the work of students Jafett Garcia and Anita DeAguero, who are both graduating from Northern this month.
For the gloves to be functional, the electronic elements had to be relatively small and lightweight, with hidden wires connecting the vibrating pads in the fingertips to the electronic control center at the wrist.
Ultimately, Garcia and DeAguero created an iteration of the project that did just that, in addition to integrating an LED screen to display battery levels.
The next technical issue: designing the glove to be both comfortable and functional. This was largely the job of the high school students.
They created a version of the glove with a canvas-like fabric with adjustable fingers and a visible palm.
“We chose this design because we wanted them to have enough grip, because it’s annoying to wear gloves and you can’t reach your cup of coffee,” said Chelsea Sisneros, an 11th grader.
Over time, versions of the glove have shifted from a cardboard prototype to the canvas version and to a more streamlined black fabric.
Although the high school and college students largely focused on different engineering riddles, they also overlap, Cox said.
“There were sewing people soldering and soldering people sewing. Eventually it became much more of a mix, and people who didn’t have skills in one area learned them,” he said. “As an outsider or as a mother hen, that was the most satisfying thing for me to see.”
In addition to being functional, the students also hope to make the technology accessible to Parkinson’s patients in the Española Valley.
This means that costs remain within reach. Other vibration therapy gloves on the market are intended to help chronic conditions, but their price tags typically run north of $100. The students’ gloves cost only $20 to $30 to produce.
The group must also ensure that the product continues to work, with technical support from local students.
“We want to help local people,” Cox said. ‘I want to be able to send Angel [Zavala of Española Valley High] or Anita when something breaks and people need help.”
There are more technical issues that need to be resolved. Next year, students will figure out how to use the latest version’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities to connect the glove to an app, Garcia said. The team also plans to use their technology on local Parkinson’s patients once it receives approval from an institutional ethics committee.
The project has already achieved one of its objectives. Zavala and another high school student, Jeremy Vigil, will attend the University of New Mexico this fall to pursue an engineering degree.
Sisneros said the program also helped boost her self-confidence.
“I’ve always been interested in this kind of engineering, and I was a little scared to take it further and actually contribute,” she said.
The turning point came when DeAguero helped her learn how to solder circuit boards, and she tried to sew the gloves.
“It really helped me overcome the fear of trying something new,” she said.
