Over years of being on the Internet, I've come across plenty of young child prodigies who blow everyone away with their savant-like skills or knowledge. There are stories of preteens ready to graduate college or children who memorized the capitals of every country in the world. However, it's hard for me to remember a story that has me more interested and excited than that of Soham Joshi and Raaghav Malik.
In 2021, while still high school seniors, Joshi and Malik made headlines when they won best in show and first place for their age category at the Invention Convention Globals event. One out of only 10 American winners, they presented what they call a Specialized Easy-to-use Novel Sign-language Expert, or S.E.N.S.E. for short.
Essentially, Joshi and Malik invented a robotic hand programmed to assist people in learning sign language. According to Joshi, the glove is also meant to facilitate communication between hearing people and those who are deaf and/or blind. S.E.N.S.E. works by moving the user's hands into the correct positions. Since the number of individuals who are deaf and/or blind is disproportionately larger than the number of trained ASL speakers, S.E.N.S.E. could help bridge that much-too-large gap. The glove represents another development in the use of communication technology, and I have to say I was blown away that its inventors are barely in college now, 18 months later.
When asked about their creative process, Joshi described it as going through a cycle of constant improvement, learning from the many times they fail until finding something that functions properly. He said it was rewarding to go through that. Malik additionally mentioned the concept of creating something which does not yet exist and employing it to help others as motivation for their work.
Joshi and Malik seem to utilize both divergent thinking (what else if they came up with a robotic glove?) as well as convergent thinking to find solutions for technical problems in their design.
These two inventors give me hope for the future, especially with their motivation to find solutions to difficult, real-world issues. I hope the world sees more form them in the future, because S.E.N.S.E. may very well change it for the better.
Sources: https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/communities/olentangy-valley/2021/10/06/invention-convention-globals-soham-joshi-raaghav-malik-of-ohio-invent-glove-teaches-sign-language/5939710001/
https://www.yahoo.com/video/ohio-high-school-students-win-145609002.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFfr3_q6s0z99wziKmA50j1eQWRZdF3G0JSaBNVo4PWTJljnOz--DN1BbP2VEVhy5dClTDpcKyABjnVMTxtWS9xtzIYxQX5NSfvkp7sL7AJ8qG_ok_Gbq_DeDGtc29VUTt5Cq2WTPeVsKc-dJUsfWe9qkHQ4x-quNok_rBuly4g8
This is a fascinating and incredibly creative invention! It is great to see people our age making a difference with their creativity. I cannot wait to see what they do in the future.
ReplyDeleteThis was a captivating read, I'm intrigued by where Malik and Joshi might go next with this invention. It's great to see modern technology helping bridge gaps and help people connect with each other who may otherwise have a more difficult time doing so.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing read! It reminded me of the story about the creative that made the insulin pump for diabetics from class. It is also very inspiring hearing of how creatives take their failures and are able to turn them into improvements to better their craft and product.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool. It never occurred to me that this was ever an option for bridging language gaps to those requiring sign language. I only wonder how practical it will be in general. Regardless, super cool and very creative.
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