Smart Gloves Bring a New Voice
TO OVER 70 MILLION PEOPLE
Technology Brings Speech to those with Hearing or Speech Impairment
Team QuadSquad of Ukraine entered and won the Software Design Competition of the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup with their Smart Gloves. These gloves sense the motion of sign language, and connect with a smart phone to bring the signs to life. The gloves and phone recognize the sign, and turn it into audio. This allows for deaf or speech impaired people to communicate much easier with those around them.
Smart Glove prototype
Team QuadSquad's Microsoft Competition Video tells us more.
EnableTalk
Schematics of the Smart Glove
How Much Will Smart Gloves Cost?
Team QuadSquad won $25,000 from the Microsoft competition, but that will not be enough. The initial startup is estimated to be about $400,000 with each glove costing $150. However, the team expects that price will be cut in half once they refine the development process for mass production.