Glove translates American Sign Language in real time

Their research is published in the journal Nature Electronics.

Smart glove translates sign language

"Our hope is that this opens up an easy way for people who use sign language to communicate directly with non-signers without needing someone else to translate for them," said Jun Chen, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the principal investigator on the research. "In addition, we hope it can help more people learn sign language themselves."

The system is said to include a pair of gloves with thin, stretchable sensors that run the length of each of the five digits. The sensors are made from electrically conducting yarns that pick up hand motions and finger placements that stand for individual letters, numbers, words, and phrases.

According to UCLA, the device then turns the finger movements into electrical signals, which are sent to a small circuit board worn on the wrist. The board transmits those signals to a smartphone that translates them into spoken words at the rate of about a one word per second.