Three young Egyptian women have qualified for the final of the Google Science Fair competition, representing the MENA region with their invention of an intelligent glove to help the deaf and mute.
Young scientists Sara (18), Nourhan (17) and Asmaa (17) recognised the difficulties faced by those with hearing and speech impairments in the region. With little government support or resources available to improve their quality of life, the disabled often struggle to connect with the hearing community, who for the most part are unable to use sign langauge.
The team worked on the concept of a glove that can translate hand signals into letters and words, aiding the wearer to communicate more easily.
The young women hope that their invention will be a powerful tool for people who are mute, deaf and hard of hearing to navigate more easily through life.
"Through the Google Science Fair, we've invited today's brightest young minds to answer an important question: how can they make the world better through science, maths, and engineering? We received thousands of extremely impressive answers to this question from over 107 countries this year, and we can’t wait to announce the winners later in September," Google said in a statement.
"But before we get there, we want to first recognize the projects that aim to solve tough community challenges like providing clean drinking water, keeping people safe from natural disasters, and fighting droughts," the statement continued.
Google added that this year, there will five regional Community Impact Awards: one for each top project that focuses on fixing a difficult resource problem across North America, Latin America, the Middle East & Africa, Asia & the Pacific Islands and Europe.
The Egyptian team's progress in the final round will be announced in September.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
