Roy Allela, a 25-year-old inventor, is genuinely changing lives through his passion for contemporary technology.
Sign-IO smart gloves were created by an Oxford University data science tutor and tech enthusiast to facilitate easy communication with the deaf community.
Seventy million people speak over 300 sign languages, but only a small percentage of people worldwide are able to understand them. There is now a barrier separating the deaf community from the general public due to this lack of understanding.
Allela was motivated to design gloves after witnessing firsthand the challenges of communicating with his deaf 6-year-old niece.
In an interview, Allela stated, “My niece puts on the gloves, connects them to her phone or mine, and then begins signing, and I can understand what she’s saying.”
The revolutionary gloves translate sign language gestures into audible speech by using flex sensors on each finger. Every sensor processes the letters being signed and measures the fingers’ bend. Clever, huh?
Once synchronized, users can connect the gloves to the app through Bluetooth. The app then translates the movements into letters, making communication easier for both parties.
Reports state that 70 million individuals globally suffer from hearing impairments of some kind. Even though sign language is the most efficient means of communication with the deaf community, very few people in the world are able to understand it.
The deaf community and those who are not familiar with sign language are separated by this lack of understanding. Roy Allela, a Kenyan inventor, hopes to address this with his most recent creation.
Allela continued, “We integrated that into the mobile application so that it’s comfortable for anyone to use. People speak at different speeds, and it’s the same with people who sign.”
To help teachers better understand their students, the inventor has also implemented the invention in special needs schools located in rural Kenya.
Users can select both the vocalization pitch and their native language via the app. Allela claims that the results are likewise 93% accurate.
Many publications have taken notice of Roy’s intelligent gloves. Even the American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded the Kenyan inventor a prize.
