The glove that talks sign language

Researchers from the Canergie Melon university are developing the HandTalk – a glove that converts sign language into text messages that are sent to a mobile phone.

There are a number of sensors on the glove that record the ASL signs and convert them into text on the fly.

Three of the four team members who are developing HandTalk, senior computer engineering students Bhargav Bhat, Hemant Sikaria and Jorge L. Meza , demonstrated the prototype yesterday at Carnegie Mellon’s “Meeting of the Minds” expo of undergraduate research projects.

“That could be a big advantage” for hearing-impaired people, Mr. Bhat said. “It would cut out the need for an interpreter.”

The device works in a very interesting way. When it is first held in the fist it greets ‘Good Morning’ and when one extends the index finger, second finger and thumb, the device responds ‘I’m having a good time’ and hold out the index finger, little finger and thumb, The Handtalk glove will courteously respond as ‘Thank you for your time’. The inventors have a strong hope that the glove can be put into use as soon as possible.

As you can see from the picture, it’s a bit unwieldy at the moment but if this could be packaged into a more comfortable glove then this cold be a great device. Would also be nice if the text could be converted to speech or some other more immediate form of communication – with text messages there is always going to be pauses in the conversation while you wait for the text to arrive.