Teen’s ‘translator glove’ lends hearing-impaired students a hand
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports
January 2, 2002

A Grand Junction, Colo., high school senior is getting international
acclaim for inventing a computerized glove
that translates sign language gestures into writing. Educators say the
device could hold great potential for
integrating hearing-disabled students into mainstream classes.

Ryan Patterson, 17, won top honors and a $100,000 scholarship in the
Siemens Westinghouse Science and
Technology Competition held Dec. 3 in Washington, D.C.

In May, the device earned him $216,000 in cash and scholarships at the
Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair. He also received a trip to Sweden to meet Nobel Prize
winners later this month.

Patterson’s invention, which is already patented, quickly translates the
American Sign Language alphabet into
writing on a computer screen. The device, called “the Sign Language
Translator,” consists of a modified golf
glove and translator display unit.

His project uses a tiny computer mounted on a standard golf glove to
translate the hand movements of sign
language into characters that appear almost simultaneously onto an
electronic screen the size of a cell phone.
A tiny circuit board on the back of the glove digitizes information from
10 sensors on the wrist and fingers and
transmits it to a tiny, one-line screen that can be tucked into a pocket
or purse.

The result is a near-fluid conversation between those who understand and
use sign language and those who
do not.

In a Dec. 4 interview on National Public Radio (NPR), Patterson
explained the practicality of his invention.

“Say ... you can’t speak, but you use sign language, and you go to the
store and you need to ask a question.
You can simply show the person the display [screen] and then sign,
rather than trying to ask them by finding
paper, pencil, or writing it or pointing,” he said.

Patterson conceived of the device last fall while watching a teen use
sign language to tell an adult translator
what to order for her at a fast-food restaurant. He felt sorry for any
teen who would always need an adult
translator tagging along and knew he could devise an electronic
solution.

“Not only is Mr. Patterson’s project groundbreaking, it is already
patented. You wouldn’t ask more from a small
engineering start-up company,” said Dr. George D. Nelson, lead judge in
the Siemens Westinghouse Science
and Technology Competition and project director at the American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
“Mr. Patterson works at a professional engineering level. He understood
at every stage of his research just
what he was trying to do—and completely pulled it off.”

“I thought through the process carefully and then experimented a lot
with algorithms to translate the sign
language,” Patterson said. “So it was just a lot of time and maybe some
luck in there.”

Educators say his invention soon might serve a useful purpose in
schools.

According to Chris Dede, professor of learning technologies at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education, “If
this device is reliable and inexpensive, it offers a powerful interface
for enabling learners who use sign
language as a primary medium of communication to interact through
written language, both in face-to-face
settings and online.”

“I think this device will help hearing-impaired students keep up with
the class,” agreed Sandra Becker, director
of technology for the Governor Mifflin School District in Pennsylvania.
“The technology seems small and natural
for the end-user.”

Becker said she believes the technology could help hearing- or
speech-impaired children communicate ideas
to teachers and classmates who do not know sign language.

Outside of the lab, Patterson is taking college-level courses and works
part-time at ThermoAutomations
Systems writing embedded software and designing circuitry. Although he
has not made a final decision on
where he will go to college, Patterson most likely will pursue
electrical engineering as a major.

In Sweden, he’ll witness the presentation of Nobel Prizes and might get
the opportunity to present his project
to a group of Nobel winners


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