The second grade students from Białystok University of Technology created an innovative glove that translates sign language. The glove is named STJM and recently it has won the first place in the national competition called Young Innovator 2022. STJM is equipped with a number of sensors that collect information about the arrangement of both each individual fingers and the whole hand.
Credit: Piotr Awramiuk/Bialystok University of Technology
STJM is a solution to problems with communication between the deaf without speech and people who do not use sign language. The invention translates a word letter by letter and it enables effective communication between the speakers without additional knowledge regarding sign language. According to the authors, it can be used, for example, by rescue teams in life-threatening situations.
What is interesting, the idea was coined by Konrad Olifier after a conversation with his mother. She is a policewoman and told him a story about a police intervention in which a sign language speaker was involved. A tool invented by the young engineers would provide a new methods to avoid stress connected with language barriers. They have been working on this project since 2021.
However, the glove is just the beginning, and the students from Białystok University of Technology plan to develop it. They want to create another glove in order to provide a speaker with the set including a pair of gloves to make signing whole words with two hands easily. The students and their teacher assume that the STJM project will be completely ready by the end of the summer holidays.
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The authors of the project; Białystok University of Technology students (Credit: Piotr Awramiuk/Bialystok University of Technology)