Human beings have a natural ability to see, listen and interact with their external environment. Unfortunately, there are some people who are differently abled and do not have the ability to use their senses to the best extent possible.

A 25-year-old Kenyan innovator Roy Allela has earned global recognition with his invention of a smart hand gloves which are capable of converting sign language movements into audio speech.

The smart gloves dubbed ‘Sign-IO ‘ have flex sensors that are placed on each finger and have the capacity to quantify the bend of a finger and process the letter being signed.

Using Bluetooth, the gloves are connected to a mobile application, that Allela also developed, which then converts the sign into audio speech.

A smart phone paired to the smart hand gloves invented by Kenyan technology evangelist, Roy Allela. PHOTO | COURTESY

Through the app, users are able to set the language, gender, and pitch of the audio voice, with accuracy results averaging 93 percent.

Roy Allela, a technology evangelist, says the need to communicate with his 6-year-old niece, who was born deaf, inspired him to build the technology.

Allela is among 16 young Africans who have been shortlisted by The Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for inventors from six countries to receive funding, training and mentoring for projects intended to revolutionize sectors from agriculture and science to women’s health.

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The winner will be awarded Sh3.2 million (£25,000) while each of the three runners up will receive Sh1.2 million (£10,000).

According to Allela, his niece encountered difficulties while communicating with members of her family since none of them is conversant with sign language.

Allela says ,the gloves help fights the stigma associated with being deaf and having a speech impediment.”If the gloves look cool, every kid will want to know why you have them on,”.

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