RC G1 Tactile Glove — macOS Setup

Install drivers and the G1 Companion App on macOS 11 Big Sur or later. 25 minutes from unbox to first pressure stream — both USB-serial and Bluetooth flows are covered.

What you will accomplish

By the end of this guide, your RC G1 Tactile Glove will be paired to a Mac and streaming the full 162-point pressure matrix plus 6-axis IMU into the G1 Companion App (delivered as JQTools.app). You will have recorded a first CSV episode and can move on to live streaming into the RC Data Platform for manipulation data collection.

What is in the box

• RC G1 Tactile Glove (left, right, or paired set).
• Data-acquisition module with built-in battery.
• Bluetooth USB-A dongle.
• USB-C cable for charging and serial data.
• USB drive containing CH34xVCPDriver.app, the G1 Companion App (JQTools.app), and Windows/Linux installers.
• Activation key card (key itself is provided separately by your account manager).

The steps

1. System requirements

   macOS 11 Big Sur or later. Apple Silicon (M1 / M2 / M3) and Intel Macs are both supported. You need one free USB-A port for the Bluetooth dongle and one USB-C port for the data-acquisition module — on USB-C-only Macs, plan for a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter or a small dock.

   Internet is required for first-run license activation.

   Do not use a VPN during activation. Most commercial VPNs block the activation endpoint and the app will report an opaque "key rejected" error.

2. Unbox and charge the data-acquisition module

   Plug any USB-C cable into the module's port. A solid white LED indicates charging; the LED turns off when the battery is full. Allow about one hour for a full charge from empty.

   A fully charged module delivers approximately 3.75 hours of Bluetooth runtime, or unlimited runtime when tethered over USB-serial.

3. Install the CH340 USB-serial driver (CH34xVCPDriver.app)

   The data-acquisition module enumerates as a CH340 USB-to-serial device. On the included USB drive, open the JQ Tools for MAC folder and drag CH34xVCPDriver.app into /Applications. Launch it once.

   The app will prompt macOS to enable a kernel extension from "Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics" (the chip vendor, WCH). Open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom of the page, click Allow next to the blocked-driver message, then Restart when prompted.

   Apple Silicon only: if the Allow button does not appear, you may need to boot into Recovery Mode (hold the power button on M-series Macs), open Startup Security Utility, and set the boot policy to "Reduced Security" with "Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers". Most users will not need this — try the simple path first.

   After reboot, relaunch CH34xVCPDriver.app. The status row should read Loaded.

4. Install the G1 Companion App (JQTools.app)

   On the included USB drive, open the Shroom-MAC版（含驱动） folder. Drag JQTools.app to /Applications.

   The first time you double-click the app, macOS Gatekeeper may say "cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified." Right-click (or Control-click) the app, choose Open, then confirm Open in the dialog. After this first launch, a normal double-click works.

   If Gatekeeper still refuses on macOS Sequoia (15.x), open Terminal and clear the quarantine flag:

   xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/JQTools.app

5. Activate the license key

   On first launch, the G1 Companion App asks for an activation key tied to your glove's serial number. Get this key from your account manager or by emailing support@roboticscenter.ai with the serial number printed on the inside cuff.

   Confirm your network is not behind a VPN; activation traffic is blocked on most commercial VPNs and on some corporate transparent proxies. Enter the key and click Activate. The license is bound to that serial number permanently; you do not need to re-activate on future launches.

6. Connect over USB-serial (recommended for first run)

   Short-press the module's power button. The LED goes from red (idle) to blue flashing (advertising). Plug the USB-C end of the included cable into the module, and the USB-A end into your Mac — use a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter or a dock if your Mac only has USB-C.

   In the Companion App, choose Serial mode. The port appears as /dev/cu.wchusbserial... in the dropdown. Set baud to 921600 and click Connect.

   The 16×16 matrix view should light up within two seconds. Wiggle a fingertip across the glove to confirm all 162 sensing points respond.

   USB-serial gives the best fidelity: 100 Hz sampling on every sensor, no compression, no Bluetooth packet loss. Use it for any quantitative work.

7. Switch to Bluetooth (wireless)

   Power-cycle the module: long-press the button until the LED turns off, then short-press to re-enter advertising mode. Plug the Bluetooth USB dongle into your Mac. The dongle's LED flashes red while scanning.

   In the Companion App, switch mode to Bluetooth, select the dongle's COM port (it appears as /dev/cu.usbmodem...), and click Pair. Pick your device from the scan list:

   • JQ-LH — Left Hand
   • JQ-RH — Right Hand
   • JQ-LF — Left Foot
   • JQ-RF — Right Foot
   • JQ-WB — Whole-Body Harness

   Solid blue on both the dongle and the module indicates a paired link. Sampling drops from 100 Hz (wired) to 30 Hz (Bluetooth); both rates are within product spec.

8. Record your first CSV

   With the glove connected, click Start Recording, perform a 10-second grasp on any everyday object, then click Stop. The CSV file is written to:

   ~/Documents/JQTools/records/<timestamp>_LH.csv

   Columns include 162 pressure channels, the 6-axis IMU (3 gyroscope + 3 accelerometer), an orientation quaternion, and a per-sample timestamp. Open the file in any spreadsheet or pandas to verify the schema before you commit to a full recording session.

9. Stream into the RC Data Platform

   To pipe live samples into the platform, open platform.roboticscenter.ai, go to Devices › Add, pick RC G1 Tactile Glove, enter the /dev/cu.* path the Companion App is using, and click Start Stream.

   Tag the session with an Operator name and Task ID before you press record. Untagged sessions land in an inbox that you will have to triage later; tagging up front is two seconds well spent.

Troubleshooting

"USB device not recognized" or no /dev/cu.wchusbserial* shows up. The kernel extension did not load. Re-open CH34xVCPDriver.app. If it still says "Not Loaded", go to System Settings › Privacy & Security and look for a pending allow-extension prompt at the bottom of the page. On Apple Silicon, you may need to lower System Integrity boot policy — see step 3.

JQTools.app crashes on launch. Quit, then run the following to clear all extended-attribute quarantine flags, then relaunch:

xattr -cr /Applications/JQTools.app

Activation key rejected. Disable any VPN and retry. If you are on a corporate network with a transparent proxy, switch to a personal hotspot for the one-time activation; subsequent launches do not need the activation endpoint.

Data module will not power on. Battery may be at 0 V. Plug in USB-C and let the module charge for at least 10 minutes before pressing the power button again. The protection circuit needs a minimum voltage before the button responds.

Bluetooth dongle solid red (communication abnormal). Unplug the dongle, wait three seconds, replug. If a second module is also paired in the area, only one at a time can hold the Bluetooth link with a given dongle.

Module enters "Standby" after one minute of idle. This is by design to save battery. Short-press the power button to wake; the link re-establishes in about two seconds.

Next steps