No lens pointed at anyone
The glove senses from the inside. Nothing watches the signer, nothing records the room, and the conversation stays exactly where it happened.
Sign-to-speech assistive technology
Every hand that signs deserves to be heard.
كلُّ يدٍ تُشير تستحقُّ أن تُسمَع.
Smart Glove is a lightweight glove that reads hand shapes and motion, and speaks them aloud — sign language translated into voice and text, in real time. Arabic sign language first. No interpreter, no camera, no internet required.
Why it matters
Fluency isn't the problem. The room is.
Millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing people sign fluently, precisely, and fast. The conversation only breaks because the person on the other side of the counter doesn't sign back.
So every clinic visit, classroom question, bank errand and government office queue depends on a human interpreter — a professional who is scarce, expensive, and almost never there at the exact moment a conversation happens. When the interpreter is missing, communication collapses into pointing, guessing, and writing on scraps of paper.
That is not a limitation of the person signing. It is a gap in the room — and a gap in the room can be engineered away.
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Interpreters can't be everywhere
Qualified sign language interpreters are rare in the region, booked days ahead, and priced beyond everyday errands. Most conversations simply happen without one.
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Paper is not a conversation
Writing notes back and forth strips out tone, speed and nuance — and quietly hands control of the exchange to the hearing person holding the pen.
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Cameras are the wrong answer
Camera-based sign recognition needs good light, a steady lens pointed at the signer, and usually a server connection. It fails exactly where privacy and dignity matter most.
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Arabic sign language is left out
Almost no assistive technology serves Arabic sign language. For most tools it is a roadmap footnote. For us it is the starting point.
The glove
You sign the way you always have. The glove does the rest.
Flex and motion sensors woven into a lightweight glove read hand shape and gesture as you sign. The companion app speaks the translation aloud and shows it as text — in real time, on the spot.
Works where networks don't
Translation runs on the device itself. A basement clinic corridor, a village school, a power cut — the glove keeps speaking.
Arabic sign language first
The first sign sets we build, test and ship are Arabic sign language, developed with signers here — with expandable sets to follow, not the other way round.
What you're wearing
Hardware you forget you have on.
Everything the glove needs to hear you lives in the glove itself — light enough for a full school day, simple enough to hand to a stranger at a counter.
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Flex sensors along each finger
Thin strips follow every bend and curl — the raw grammar of a hand shape.
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Motion sensor at the back of the hand
Reads the movement between shapes: direction, rotation, and rhythm.
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Removable core module
The electronics lift out in one piece — for washing, charging, or moving to a fresh glove.
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Washable fabric shell
Breathable, lightweight fabric that goes in the wash like any other glove.
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Charging cuff
Charges at the wrist overnight, so mornings start with the glove, not a cable hunt.
The companion app
A conversation you can hold, keep, and read back.
The app is the glove's voice. It speaks each signed sentence aloud, shows it as clear text for the person opposite, and keeps the conversation history so nothing important gets lost between visits.
Calibration lives here too: the glove learns each signer's individual style — the exact way your hands make each sign — so recognition adapts to you rather than asking you to adapt to it.
- Speaks in a clear, natural voice
- Large-type live text for the person you're talking to
- Conversation history you control and can delete
- Classroom mode for teachers and pupils
At the clinic reception
Glove connected · offline
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Signed → spoken
Good morning. I have an appointment with the dentist at ten.
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Receptionist · typed reply
Of course — room 3, second door on the left. Shall I let them know you're here?
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Signed → spoken
Yes, please. Thank you.
What the glove does
Built for everyday conversations, not lab demos.
Seven things Smart Glove is designed to do — each one chosen because a real errand, a real lesson, or a real appointment depends on it.
Real-time sign-to-speech and text
Each signed sentence is spoken aloud and displayed as text the moment it is signed — the conversation moves at conversation speed.
Arabic sign language first
The launch sign sets are Arabic sign language, built and tested with local signers. Expandable sets for other sign languages follow the same path.
Per-user calibration
No two people sign identically. The glove learns your individual signing style during setup and keeps refining as you use it.
Fully offline operation
No camera, no internet, no account needed to talk. Everything runs on the glove and the paired phone, wherever you happen to be.
Conversation history
Keep what matters — the pharmacist's instructions, the teacher's homework note — and delete what doesn't. The history belongs to the signer.
Lightweight and washable
A glove is clothing before it is hardware. The sensor module lifts out, and the fabric goes in the wash like any other glove.
Classroom mode for teachers and pupils
In an inclusive classroom, a pupil's signed question is spoken for the whole class, and the teacher's board notes stay paired with the transcript. Schools for the deaf can run several gloves in one room, each speaking with its own voice — so a discussion sounds like a discussion.
Designed with pilot schools
Who it's for
One glove. Four places it changes the day.
Smart Glove is built for signers first — and for every counter, classroom and corridor where their day actually happens.
Individuals & families
Everyday errands without booking an interpreter three days ahead: the pharmacy, the bus office, a neighbour at the door. And at home, family members who never learned to sign fluently finally hear exactly what was said — in the signer's own words, not a summary.
Schools for the deaf & inclusive classrooms
Classroom mode lets a signed question reach the whole room and keeps a transcript for revision. For mainstream schools, it lowers the barrier to enrolling deaf pupils without waiting for a full-time interpreter that may never be funded.
Hospitals, banks & public services
A triage nurse, a bank teller, a permits clerk — none of them sign, and all of them ask questions that matter. A glove at the counter means the answer arrives in speech and on screen, first-hand, with a written record both sides can check.
Disability organisations & NGOs
Organisations that already serve deaf communities can put gloves where interpreters are scarcest — mobile clinics, legal aid desks, emergency response — through institutional bundles priced for programmes, not for retail.
How it works
From the box to a conversation, in four steps.
Setup happens once, at your own pace, at home. After that the glove is as ready as your hands are.
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Put it on, pair it once
The glove pairs with the companion app the first time. After that it reconnects on its own — no menus before a conversation.
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Teach it your signing
A guided calibration walks through the core sign set. The glove learns how your hands make each sign — your speed, your angles, your style.
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Sign as you always do
No slowed-down "device signing", no memorised gestures. The glove is built to follow natural Arabic sign language at natural speed.
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Be heard, and keep the record
The app speaks each sentence and shows it in large type. The transcript stays on your phone, under your control, for as long as you want it.
A note on words. People who sign are not patients, and signing is not a symptom. Sign language is a complete language — Smart Glove's only job is to carry it into rooms that haven't learned it yet.
Where we actually are
Pre-launch, and honest about it.
Smart Glove is being developed at An-Najah National University's Innopark in Nablus, working directly with local deaf community organisations. Here is exactly what we will publish as it becomes true — and it stays blank until then.
- Signs recognised
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- Pilot schools
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- Stories from first users
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Counted from the tested, calibrated sign sets we ship — never from a lab-bench best case.
Named with each school's written agreement, once classroom pilots begin.
Told only with each person's permission, in their own words, in their own language.
Built with the community
Sign sets, calibration flows and the app's voice are developed and tested with deaf signers and local deaf organisations — not designed about them and shown to them afterwards.
What we don't claim
Smart Glove is not a replacement for sign language, for interpreters in complex settings, or for teaching hearing people to sign. It is a bridge for the thousands of moments when none of those are in the room.
Where we're built
Incubated at An-Najah National University · Innopark, Nablus — with the university's engineering labs, and the region's deaf schools and community organisations, within reach of the workbench.
Pilots & partnerships
Help us put the first gloves where they're needed most.
We are looking for pilot schools, hospitals and public-service counters, disability organisations, and — above all — deaf signers who want to shape the glove before launch. If that's you, we would genuinely like to hear from you, in Arabic, English, or sign.