Teens Put IT Prowess To The Test
High school seniors compete in the Intel Science Talent Search
From: Information Week - March 18, 2002 - page 103
By: Tischelle George


A glove that translates American Sign Language into text, a new method to
make voice recognition more reliable, and a theory on how to shrink RAM to
the molecular scale were among the science projects that competed last week
for the $100,000 grand prize in the Intel Science Talent Search competition. 

The first-place winner, 18-year-old Ryan Patterson of Central High School in
Grand Junction, CO, developed an American Sign Language translator. Patterson
says he was inspired when he saw a group of people using sign language and a
human interpreter to order a meal at McDonald's and thought that "signing
with an electronic interpreter instead of a human one would give them more
freedom." 

Patterson's invention consists of a glove equipped with microprocessor
circuitry that detects hand and finger movements. Using radio-frequency
communication, the glove translates letters of the signed alphabet and
transmits that information to a portable display or computer, where it's
displayed as text. Much like handwriting-recognition software, Patterson's
translator glove requires the user to train the glove to recognize his or her
individual sign patterns. The translator recognizes individual letters and
some punctuation, but Patterson says his goal is to have it recognize words
and phrases.  

http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020314S0025
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020312S0072