IoT Sign Language to Text

Arduino + Flex Sensor Glove for gesture-to-text conversion

Introduction

Communication barriers for the hearing and speech impaired can be reduced using assistive IoT solutions. This project demonstrates how Arduino + flex sensors can be used to detect finger movements and convert hand gestures into text displayed on a computer or LCD screen.

Components Used

Approach

  1. Attach flex sensors to a glove, one for each finger.
  2. Connect the sensors to Arduino through voltage dividers.
  3. Arduino reads analog values corresponding to finger bends.
  4. Threshold values are mapped to specific letters/words.
  5. Detected text is displayed on LCD or sent via Serial/Bluetooth to a PC/mobile app.

Arduino Code

#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);

int flexPins[5] = {A0, A1, A2, A3, A4};
int flexValues[5];

void setup() {
  lcd.begin(16, 2);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  for (int i=0; i<5; i++) {
    flexValues[i] = analogRead(flexPins[i]);
  }

  // Example: detect simple gestures
  if (flexValues[0] > 600 && flexValues[1] < 400) {
    lcd.clear();
    lcd.print("Hello");
    Serial.println("Hello");
  }

  delay(500);
}

Results

Gestures made with the glove are detected by Arduino and translated into text output on either an LCD display or a connected computer. This helps bridge communication between speech/hearing impaired individuals and others.

Future Improvements