The invention of Ukrainian students is one of the best according to the TIME version

Students of the STEP Computer Academy won the Imagine Cup 2012 in Sydney July 10 saw a truly landmark event for the Ukrainian computer industry - for the first time in history, Ukrainians won one of the most prestigious technology competitions in the IT field - Microsoft Imagine Cup. The quadSquad team, consisting of students at the STEP Computer Academy in Donetsk, won in the most difficult category - software design, in which more than 70 teams fought.
They presented to the world their socially oriented project called Enable Talk .

Which, according to TIME magazine, is included in the list of "Best Inventions of the Year 2012" along with The Curiosity Rover , Google Glass ,Self-inflating tires and many others.
It is aimed at improving the communication of people with hearing loss and is a glove equipped with a large number of sensors, such as finger bend sensors, a pair of accelerometers, a gyroscope and a compass, which allows you to collect information about the position of the hand in space and further convert the gesture into speech.

The software part of the development (based on the Windows Phone 7 / Windows 8 platforms) provides the reception of information from glove sensors and its continuous conversion into an audio signal. The information received via Bluetooth is transmitted to the smartphone, after quick processing, gestures are voiced. This invention will help deaf and dumb people communicate in an easier and more convenient way. The glove is also equipped with solar panels, which optimizes the time of its use.

During the presentation, the team demonstrated the capabilities of the gloves, talking with the audience in sign language, which instantly translated into voice. All those present, including members of the jury, noted that they had not seen anything like this before, the ability of Ukrainians not only to program, but also to solder microcircuits with their own hands was highly appreciated. “The idea to create something similar came to us after talking with athletes who were athletes who had difficulties due to the fact that people around did not understand sign language. After thinking about this problem, we created a special glove. Athletes from the Society of the deaf-mute support us in every possible way, participate in approbations - seeing their enthusiasm, the results obtained, we understand that we are doing a really necessary and socially significant project. Hope

The guys spent more than six months on the development of their project, it is assumed that such a glove will cost only $ 200.

Materials taken from the site: "EnableTalk"