A 25-year-old young man from Kenya has invented smart gloves that convert sign language movements into audio speech for his 6-year-old deaf niece. This gloves also bagged 2nd runner-up position at Royal Academy of Engineering Leaders in London.
Roy Allela, 6-year-old niece was born deaf. She found it difficult to communicate with her family, none of whom knew sign language. So Roy Allela embarked on creating the gloves.
The gloves, named Sign-IO have flex sensors stitched on to each finger. The sensors quantify the bend of the fingers & process the letter being signed. The gloves are paired via Bluetooth to a mobile phone application that Allela also developed, which then vocalises the letter.
The gloves placed 2nd runners-up at the Royal Academy of Engineering Leaders in Innovation Fellowship in London and won the hardware trailblazer award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
