AI
Why a Power Glove for Slides
Parsia wanted a memorable presentation prop. He borrowed from Harun Mir’s idea that talks need technical wizardry, charisma, or hijinks. Lacking the first two, he chose the third. The Nintendo Power Glove, released in 1989 for $100, was a toy that barely worked. Its iconic movie line — “I love the Power Glove. It is so bad.” — made it perfect. Parsia bought one in 2016 for a Hackerman cosplay and won $50. Seven years later, he wired it to advance slides.
How the Glove Sends Data
The glove uses ultrasonic sensors placed around the TV. They emit sound waves and measure position via Doppler effect. No gyroscope or accelerometer. A junction box connects to the NES through a DB9 connector. The protocol is standard NES gamepad: pulse latch, read one bit per button (0 = pressed), then pulse clock seven more times. The glove expects about 20 reads per second. Parsia’s ESP32 ran at 140 MHz and nearly burned the glove by polling too fast. He added delays.
Building the Bluetooth Bridge
The ESP32 runs on 3.3V pins. The glove outputs 5V signals. Sending 5V into a 3.3V pin kills the chip. Parsia killed several boards. He found an Arduino Uno R4 Wi-Fi with 5V-tolerant pins, but no libraries existed. He switched to a level shifter from Tido Electronics for $7. A TP4056 charger module and an 18650 battery powered the setup. The 5V pin from the battery pack gave stable power. Parsia used the ESP-IDF framework and Expressive’s unlicensed code to read the glove’s button states.
From Clunky Mouse to Keyboard
Parsia implemented a Bluetooth mouse by sending four bytes: buttons, dx, dy, and wheel. He mapped the glove’s arrow keys to cursor movement and used the A button for right-click. Sensitivity was adjustable. For the keyboard, he sent eight bytes: modifier and key code. Instead of ASCII, he used HID usage IDs (e.g., 4 for A). Shift plus A produced capital A. The glove’s faulty electronics caused phantom presses. Parsia added code to ignore all-ones or all-zeros states. A delay prevented rapid-fire keystrokes.
Demo and Lessons
The glove advanced slides and popped Calculator with the select button. Parsia joked that the demo was the talk itself. He encouraged others to use janky props for boardroom presentations. The project proved that vintage hardware can be repurposed with modern microcontrollers. The code and pinout are available on his website. Parsia’s wife rolled her eyes at the punchline.
Notable Quotes
I love the Power Glove. It is so bad. Parsia “CryptoGangsta” Hakimian · ▶ 7:30
It’s functional. Parsia “CryptoGangsta” Hakimian · ▶ 7:45
They’re not AR generated and they don’t have copyright. Parsia “CryptoGangsta” Hakimian · ▶ 0:34
Thank God that love is blind. Parsia “CryptoGangsta” Hakimian · ▶ 6:30
it’s the work’s clunkiest edges sketch Parsia “CryptoGangsta” Hakimian · ▶ 19:32
Key Takeaways
- A 1989 Nintendo Power Glove can be turned into a Bluetooth keyboard with an ESP32.
- Level shifters are required to safely interface 5V hardware with 3.3V microcontrollers.
- Adding delays prevents burning out vintage hardware with modern polling speeds.
About the Speaker(s)
Parsia “CryptoGangsta” Hakimian is an offensive security engineer at Microsoft. He has presented at DEF CON’s main venue and the AppSec Village. When not breaking or fixing things, he plays video games, D&D, and spends time with family. He jokes that he subjects himself to the tax and immigration systems of the US and Canada.