University of Wyoming, College of Engineering, Undergraduate Senior Design Project: the talking hand.
A glove was built using flex sensors to produce a voltage according to the amount of bend each finger produces when signing a letter of the alphabet. The glove detects and outputs in text the letter of the alphabet being signed as the wearer signs the different letters. The amount of bend causes a change in resistance, which in turn produces a specific voltage in accordance to the letter being signed. That voltage is then fed into a data acquisition card that runs into a personal computer. Through intensive programming and training of a special algorithm called a neural network; the input voltage to the data acquisition card will result in that letter being displayed in font on the monitor of the computer. The computer is then programmed to take the text that is displayed on the monitor and run it out of the PC into a store bought chipset that will convert the text to speech. Therefore, a person will be able to put on this glove, sign all twenty-six letters of the alphabet, see the letter they are currently signing output on the monitor, and hear it spoken in a pre-recorded voice.
Barnes
Jennifer R
JR
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA. jenrose@uwyo.edu
Amin
Ruchik
R
Barrett
Steven F
SF
D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000193:education; D003143:Communication Devices for People with Disabilities; D004517:Education, Professional / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009323:Natural Language Processing; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods; D012813:Sign Language; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D014159:Transducers; D014495:Universities; D014959:Wyoming