App that allows deaf people to verbally communicate wins Imagine Cup
- 11 July, 2012 15:32
- Comments
A Ukrainian university team has won the 2012 Imagine Cup with a product that allows deaf people to verbally communicate using sensory gloves and a smartphone.
The smartphone Enable Talk app captures hand movements to translate sign language into speech, allowing deaf people to more easily communicate with the wider population.
Data from the sensory gloves, which include 15 flex sensors to capture finger movements, are transmitted to a microcontroller. The microcontroller normalises the data and the data is then transmitted to a smartphone. The app then correlates movement patterns made from sign language with sounds, allowing deaf people to communicate with people who do not know sign language.
The Imagine Cup challenges students around the world to develop unique products using technology.
More than 350 students from 75 countries took part in the Imagine Cup, which covers eight categories, including software design and game design.
A team from Japan took out second place with a power saving system that enables LED lamps to communicate with each other and can dim automatically if there is more light in the room than needed.
Meanwhile, a team from Portugal took out third place with a robotic cart designed to improve the mobility of people with special needs by using motors and sensors powered by Kinect.
Finalists in the software design category included a team from New Zealand who created an app which uses artificial intelligence to help blind people make better visual sense of the world.
Follow Stephanie McDonald on Twitter: @stephmcdonald0
Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU
Take part in the Computerworld conversation: LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia
Recommended
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Larry Page wants to see your medical records
-
Dual-Persona Smartphones Not a BYOD Panacea
-
After two-year hiatus, EFF accepts bitcoin donations again
-
CIOs struggle to deliver timely mobile business apps: survey
-
Spiceworks' free management software gets integrated MDM
-
Detecting APT Activity with Network Traffic Analysis
Today’s successful targeted attacks use a combination of social engineering, malware, and backdoor activities. This research paper will discuss how advanced detection techniques can be used to identify malware command-and control (C&C) communications related to these attacks, illustrating how even the most high-profile and successful attacks of the past few years could have been discovered. -
Hybrid IT Service Management: A Requirement for Virtualisation and Cloud Computing
When competition is tough and resources are limited, corporate leaders are depending on growing their existing capabilities in order to grow their business. Information technology can be a unique catalyst for business growth, delivering a competitive advantage when creatively applied to established and emerging problems. Read more on what trends are accelerating the value of IT. -
Advanced Malware Exposed
This handbook shines a light on the dark corners of advanced malware, both to educate as well as to spark renewed efforts against these stealthy and persistent threats. By understanding the tools being used by criminals, we can better defend our nations, our critical infrastructures and our citizens. This ebook will provide readers with a new understanding of the rapidly developing cyber threat landscape and practical insights into how they can protect their data and computing infrastructures. Download now.
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
