Talking Gloves: Low-Cost Gesture Recognition System for Sign Language Translation

Sign language is used by speech and hearing-impaired persons to convey their message to other people. It consists of different sets of movements of fingers and hands. Each motion and bending of fingers has its own meaning. Often this sign language is not understood by everyone, which produces a communication gap. To bridge this gap, Talking Gloves are introduced. The system is based on sensor gloves which convert the sign language to speech. The gloves read the motion and orientation of both hands through Accelerometer and Flex sensors sewed within. All the sensors' data is processed and multiplexed wirelessly through bluetooth. A respective sound file is played by the audio module upon matching the sensors' values of the gestures. When no sign is made, the system has the capability to switch to its sleeping mode which enables it to save the power. The system design uses a simple algorithm that directly maps gestures via lookup process, thus avoiding complex computations. The aim is to develop a portable, reliable and an inexpensive system. Therefore, the system uses less expensive electronics which are easily available in the local market, making the system affordable for everyone.