High-tech gloves helps users of American Sign Language to communicate

Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles have developed a breakthrough technology that allows people who communicate with American Sign Language to communicate with others using wearable biotechnology.

This technology is a pair of lightweight gloves made from a stretchable synthetic polymer material. Embedded in the gloves are sensors made from yarn that can conduct electricity, according to UCLA's Newsroom. These sensors go from each finger to a very small circuit board. The circuit board is attached to the gloves and sits on top of the wearer’s wrist.

When the wearer signs, electrical signals are sent from the gloves to a smartphone app. The app translates those signals into words that can be heard by a person who doesn’t sign.

Sensors were also attached to the faces of participants, according to UCLA's Newsroom. This was so that the researchers could record facial expressions of the users communicating with American Sign Language.

“Our hope is that this opens up an easy way for people who use sign language to communicate directly with non-signers without needing someone else to translate," Jun Chen, with UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering and the lead researcher for the project, told UCLA’s Newsroom.