A Kenyan innovator, Roy Allela has placed the country on a world map after he developed a pair of smart gloves which are capable of converting sign language to audio speech.
The technological evangelist aged 25 years old says that he was inspired by the need to communicate with his younger niece who was born deaf.
The nerd will be among the 16 shortlisted Africans by The Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for inventors from six countries.
The cohort also stand a chance to receive funding, training and mentoring for projects intended to revolutionize sectors from agriculture and science to women’s health.
Top awards inform of money to be grabbed include Sh3.2 million (£25,000) for the top winner while each of the three runners up will receive Sh1.2 million (£10,000).
His smart gloves invention dubbed Sign-IO is made up of key sensors which are flexible to bend along with the fingers and be able to interpreter the sign language being communicated.
The gloves are linked to a mobile app via Bluetooth. The mobile app which was developed by Roy is able to complete the task sending the signals from the smart gloves into audio speech.
“My niece wears the gloves, pairs them to her phone or mine, then starts signing and I’m able to understand what she’s saying,” says Allela.
Through the app, one is able to set the gender and even the pitch of the voice. His works averages an accuracy of 93%.
“It 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,” says Allela.
He recently won a lucrative award, Hardware Trailblazer award from the prestigious American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) during its 2017 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) competition.
