Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a smart glove that wirelessly translates the American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet into text.
Known as “The Language of Glove,” the device was built for less than $100 using stretchable and printable electronics which are inexpensive, commercially available and easy to assemble, according to UCSD. The glove has nine flexible strain sensors – two on each finger and one on the thumb – that detect knuckle articulation. A microprocessor computes the ASL letter for each gesture, and a Bluetooth radio transmits the text for display.
(Credit: Timothy O’Connor et al)
In addition to decoding American Sign Language gestures, researchers are developing the glove to be used in a variety of other applications ranging from virtual and augmented reality to telesurgery, technical training and defence.
I can see many book-makers and tic-tac men going out of business.
[Actually on reflection I had better explain that comment] In those happy days before mobile phones, ‘odds’ on horses and dogs were shared by bookies on course. A watch was also placed upon the size of bets on particular horses: and these were passed between the ‘turf accountants ‘ (as they were known) by sign language! How do I know this: because my grandfather was quite a one for the ‘gees’ and a young boy I used to accompany him to the tracks: albeit sworn to secrecy about how much he won (or lost!)
Excellent!
Being unable to communicate quickly and accurately must be akin to being in an emotional prison. Let’s hope someone gets this to market as soon as possible
i wonder if signing is quicker than touch typing? is it as complete as normal language? can a signer tell me? if it is, the signing smart glove could replace the keyboard, voice recognition and even stenography as a fast input method. and it would make signing worth learning for a lot of people, not just the hard of hearing.
ASL is not just a hand movement thing. Even with just the hands, the intensity of such movements denotes from calm and jolly to fearful and angry. The second half of ASL is expression. So it’s not just hand movements. This too would be perfect for spelling for sure but that is such a tiny part of the language and much too slow for normal conversation.