In a joint initiative, innovators from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur and All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) Jodhpur have developed low-cost ‘Talking Gloves’ for people with a speech disability.

The developed device costs less than Rs 5000 which uses principles of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to automatically generate speech that will be language independent and facilitate the communication between mute people and normal people.

The developed device can help individuals to convert hand gestures into text or pre-recorded voices. Hence, makes a differently-abled person independent and communicates the message effectively.

Prof Sumit Kalra, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Jodhpur, along with his team of innovators including Dr Arpit Khandelwal from IIT Jodhpur, and Dr Nithin Prakash Nair (SR, ENT), Dr Amit Goyal (Prof & Head, ENT), Dr Abhinav Dixit (Prof., Dept of Physiology), from AIIMS Jodhpur, have recently acquired a patent for this innovation.

The team is further working to enhance the features such as durability, weight, responsiveness, and ease-of-use, of the developed device. The developed product will be commercialised through a startup incubated by IIT Jodhpur.