Cornell University engineering students devote their final project to the development of prototype glove

Last March we reported on a breakthrough mobile software application that converts sign language into text, developed by researchers at Aberdeen University in Scotland. Now three engineering students at Cornell University here in the United States have developed a high-tech glove that can translate hand gestures into spoken letters.

The three young engineers, Ranjay Krishna, Seonwoo Lee, and Si Ping Wang, describe how their creation works. “The sign language translator we have developed uses a glove fitted with sensors that can interpret the 26 English letters in American Sign Language (ASL). The glove uses flex sensors, contact sensors, and accelerometers in three dimensions to gather data on each finger’s position and the hand’s motion to differentiate the letters.”

The translation is then transmitted to the base station, which displays as well as pronounces the letter and also interfaces with the computer. There is a game on the computer which tests the user’s ability to sign, and can be used for sign language education.

According to some estimates ASL is the sixth most used language in the United States and is used by up to 2 million deaf Americans. However very few Americans who are not deaf know how to communicate in sign language. That’s why we can be hopeful that the development of innovations like this glove may one day help to bridge the communication gap between the deaf and the rest of us.

Alex Dupont

See Also

• More about machine translation
  Machine translation in itself is not good enough if you require a translation of publishable quality.
• Glove Turns Sign Language into Spoken Letters, Opens up Communication by Elizabeth Fish, PCWorld
  The Sign Language Translator Glove, made by a trio of students at Cornell University, uses a variety of sensors to translate different finger and hand movements into spoken English language.