Learning sign language is one of the coolest things you can learn. Being able to naturally communicate with a hearing disabled people just makes you feel good and, more importantly, useful. After all, it’s tough to even imagine losing the most musical sense and disabled people face that fact each and every day. Courageous if you think about it. The wearable technology industry ought to get involved and design something, anything, to make their lives just a tad bit easier. It’s the least they could do, right? Well, don’t look now, the technology may just be here.
Introducing the Sign Language Ring, a ring and bracelet combo unit that works to translate sign language gestures into audio and readable text. Sounds amazing right? Well, it is. The bracelet prints out words spoken or gestured, so the wearer will instantly know what is being said around them. It’s sort of like the Star Trek universal translator thingamabob, but somehow even cooler. You can also program your own gestures in case you are talking about green unicorns made out of Nutter Butters or something. Really, there can’t be too many opportunities to talk about them, however.
This concept design was worked up by Cao Zu-Wei, Hu Ya-Chun, Huang Ching-Lan, Liao Po-Yang, Tsai Yu-Chi, and Yang Yi-Hsien, who drew inspiration from Buddha prayer beads for the bracelet’s design. The Sign Language Ring recently won the 2013 Red Dot Design award.
