GJSentinel.com

12.30.01 Patterson's invention takes him around the world By ZACK BARNETT The Daily Sentinel Ryan Patterson woke up on Christmas Day last year, opened presents with his family and then disappeared for hours.

"We didn't see him until dinner," said his mother, Sherry.

Hunger finally tore the inventor away from his latest project.

Patterson, 18, from a working-class Orchard Mesa family, has won more than $300,000 in cash and scholarship prizes at science fairs all over the country for his sign-language translator, a golf glove outfitted with sensors connected to a small computer and candy-bar-sized monitor. The computer translates the sign language of the person wearing the glove into letters on the monitor.

The patented device is attracting attention from companies all over the world. He recently finished a whirlwind tour, winning a $103,000 scholarship in the nation's capital, then heading to Sweden for the Nobel Prize presentation ceremonies.

On a recent evening, the Central High School senior sat at his kitchen table and reflected on a story that began last year when he watched a deaf person struggle through an order at the Clifton Burger King. There had to be an easier way for people who use sign language to communicate, he thought.

He not only found a better way, he perfected it.

Patterson spread out on his table prototype pigskin gloves sent to him by a leather company, fingering each one. The translator, when manufactured, will have the sensors inside them and will look sporty, with a white tint, not brown like work gloves.

The smell of baking chocolate-chip cookies wafted from the nearby oven.

The voices of Bart and Homer Simpson echoed from the family room. Then you could hear a commercial coming on the television.

"Ryan, you're on TV again," his father, Randy, shouted.

Patterson clicked on a TV in the kitchen to a national cable channel only to miss a public service announcement featuring his mug.

He has reportedly been too busy for "Good Morning America." He did a 20-minute interview with National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., earlier this month when he won the Siemens Westinghouse Science and Technology Competition and a $103,000 scholarship.

Other than that, "I just haven't had the chance for an interview until now," he said.

The modest teen has no problem talking about a device that makes it possible for people to communicate without speaking.

Patterson has been obsessed about not only building the first such device, but also about polishing it, about making sure it functioned flawlessly. He sacrificed family vacations, family dinners and almost all his free time to make sure the device was the best it could be.

"It's important for me to create things that help people," he has said.

He spent hours adding sensors to the glove, programming and reprogramming the tiny computer and creating a presentation equal to the invention.

It's too early to say for sure, but Patterson guessed that, if manufactured, translators could retail for $800 to $2,000 each.

"Not only is Mr. Patterson's project groundbreaking, it is already patented," wrote the lead judge in the most recent competition. "You wouldn't ask for more from a small engineering company."

The translator is his second big project. In 2000, Patterson's "Sleuthbot" earned him honors at the international science fair. Patterson designed a robot that could search buildings for suspicious people or bombs during a crisis without putting people in danger.

Such inventions are taking him all over the world. He recently returned from a week in Sweden, where he rubbed elbows with the world's leading thinkers and got almost no sleep.

Patterson won the trip in May at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose, Calif., where the translator earned him not only best of category honors, but also the Glenn T. Seaborg Nobel Prize Visit Award and the Intel Young Scientist Scholarship Award.

He flew home after the science competition in Washington, taking a short nap after about 50 sleepless hours.

Then early the next day, it was back to the airport for the first leg of his trip to Stockholm.

Once there, he and about 30 other young scientists were ushered through what is perhaps the world's biggest showcase of intellectuals — the Nobel Prize ceremonies.

"There was something there for everybody," Patterson said, admitting that even he was baffled by some of the cutting-edge cancer research presented.

Officials kept Patterson's group busy during the weeklong stay with tours, receptions, lectures and even a practice dinner where they learned proper etiquette for the awards ceremony.

It took almost 45 minutes for the students to learn the complicated series of nods, glances and motions associated with a proper Swedish toast.

Once he mastered the toasts, he had to learn the foxtrot for the reception after the presentation ceremonies.

The last night — the night the prizes were awarded — Patterson went to the presentation dinner, then to the party, and at 1:30 a.m., to the after-party party traditionally known as Nightcap.

There, Swedish college students created themes for several floors and rooms with decors featuring Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and Robin Hood.

"It was the biggest party I've ever been to," he said.

Patterson soaked in the festivities. It could, but probably won't be, a once-in-a-lifetime event for him. The after-party party ended at 5:30 a.m. Patterson, once again, didn't get any sleep before he boarded a plane for the ride home.

Hundreds gathered at Walker Field Airport to welcome him back. His parents, his friends, even the Central High cheerleaders greeted him.

On the first day back from Sweden, “I told him he could stay home” from school, his mother said.

Instead he went to classes, but only for part of the day.

Most teachers hounded him for homework.

"I don't think they understood why I was gone."

The teen said he told them where he was going. Still, teachers pressured him for makeup work, perhaps thinking he was on vacation.

The second day back also brought another daunting date — the admissions deadline for Stanford University. He finished and turned in his application on the Internet at 11:58 p.m. — two minutes before the midnight cutoff.

He's spent most of his holiday break catching up in his classes and his sleep.

He might even pack on a few pounds. His American fast-food tastes never took to Swedish cuisine of fish and reindeer.

His mother says he's too skinny, baiting his mouth with fresh cookies.

But she shouldn't worry about her son's appetite.

He has a habit of coming out for holiday dinners.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2001

Answers

Swedish cuisine of fish and reindeer, come on. You can eat very well in Sweden, I've been there.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2001

Did you eat very well in Britain? :)

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2001

OG, the food we had in Britain was alright. We never made it to Simpson's, which would have raised the pleasure quotient considerably, I'm sure.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2001