Ryan Patterson: Sign-language finger-spelling glove
Sign-language finger-spelling glove.
Watching deaf customers at a Burger King rely on an interpreter to order, Patterson fitted a leather golf glove with ten flex sensors and a small circuit board that matched hand shapes to the American Sign Language alphabet and displayed each letter in under half a second. It won top honours at Intel ISEF 2001, first place at the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in December 2001 and first place at the Intel Science Talent Search in March 2002, with scholarships exceeding US$400,000.
IP note
US provisional filed c. 2001–02 (Lemelson-MIT); never converted; no grant.
Recognition
Intel STS 2002 first place; Siemens Westinghouse 2001 first place.
What this means for a student inventor in India
[Editor: 120–200 words connecting this story to the Indian route — Section 6 (any true inventor may apply), provisional vs complete specification, disclosure at fairs (Section 31), renewals, and who owns what when a school is involved. Link to the relevant MYCrave guide.]
Related young innovators
- Easton LaChappelle — 3D-printed robotic prosthetic arm; later TrueLimb
- Shalini Kumari — Stair-climbing walker with adjustable front legs
- Arsh Shah Dilbagi — TALK
Sources
[Editor: list the 2–4 primary sources from the research notes for this entry, with the date checked.]
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