UCLA bioengineers have designed a
glove-like device that can translate American Sign Language into English speech
in real time though a smartphone app. Their research is published in the
journal Nature Electronics. The system includes a pair of gloves with thin,
stretchable sensors that run the length of each of the five fingers. These
sensors, made from electrically conducting yarns, pick up hand motions and
finger placements that stand for individual letters, numbers, words and
phrases.
The device then turns the finger
movements into electrical signals, which are sent to a dollar-coin-sized
circuit board worn on the wrist. The board transmits those signals wirelessly
to a smartphone that translates them into spoken words at the rate of about a
one word per second. The researchers also added adhesive sensors to testers'
faces—in between their eyebrows and on one side of their mouths—to capture
facial expressions that are a part of American Sign Language.
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