By developing sensor-enabled gloves that translate sign language to spoken word and text, two undergraduates hope to bridge the communication gap between deaf and hearing communities, reports NPR.
The gloves are called SignAloud, and they are equipped with sensors that measure hand position and movement. When a person wearing the gloves uses sign language, Bluetooth capabilities send that data to a computer which converts the message into spoken text.
The college sophomores, Navid Azodi and Thomas Pryor, told NPR they continue to work on their prototype. In particular, the duo is trying to understand the nuances of American Sign Language, which includes facial expressions and body language to add meaning to words that are signed.
Mr. Azodi and Mr. Pryor attend the University of Washington in Seattle, and they were among the seven teams to win a Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, a program to help young innovative inventors. The team won $10,000 for its innovation
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