Priyanjali Gupta, an engineering student, has created a unique artificial intelligence model capable of translating sign language into English in real time.
By: Ma. Andrea M. Pacardo
We are still in the grip of the pandemic, and electronic communications have become an inevitable aspect of life- on which a visionary engineer from India realized that people who use sign language couldn’t communicate well during video conversations. As a result, she materialized the idea of creating a one-of-a-kind AI model capable of translating gestures in order to make deaf people’s lives easier.
The model was created with Real-Time Sign Language Detection by Priyanjali Gupta, an engineering student in her third year at India’s Vellore Institute of Technology utilizing the Tensorflow object detection API, which translates hand motions using transfer learning from a pre-trained model called ssd_mobilenet. She uploaded her innovation on LinkedIn, where it received over 60,000 likes and about 1,200 comments from individuals who were amazed with her unique idea.
Gupta’s software converts signals into English text by using image recognition technology to analyze the actions of different body parts, such as arms and fingers. Since it is real-time, the AI program provides a dynamic manner of communicating with deaf or hard-of-hearing persons. Yes, No, Please, Thank You, I Love You, and Hello are the six gestures it can covert. A larger amount of sign language data would be required to construct a more trustworthy model, but as a proof of concept, this appears to work.
THANK YOU, MOM!
Gupta attributed the software’s inspiration to her mother, who encouraged her to try something new as an engineering student. Priyanjali stated that the Alexa device, which responds to voice commands is useless to individuals who couldn’t talk or hear, and that’s when the idea of developing an AI model occurred to her.
HARDWORK DOES PAY OFF!
Priyanjali began developing the concept in February 2021. She began the model in December of last year, but it did not go well. She tried again last month with the help of the internet and did all through her own research, recalling that she didn’t get any sleep for three nights in a row to complete the model.
MORE TO COME!
Since the dataset was created and annotated by hand using a computer webcam and is now trained on single frames, it will need to be developed on a huge number of frames to recognize videos, which will most likely be performed using Long short-term memory (LSTM) networks. While admitting that developing software for sign recognition is tough, Gupta expressed hope that the open-source community will soon help her in finding a solution that will allow her to expand her work.
Nonetheless, it is still in its early stages, and full implementation is likely to take some time. She is currently looking for a better platform and guidance in order to improve the model.
Image credit: Github, The Courier, ZME Science
As someone who has a special love for deaf people, I am delighted to hear this news! This will offer them hope that they will be able to communicate with others, now, even through video calls. I am in awe of the creators’ concept in creating this innovation! Congratulations to the author of this blog as well for sharing such awesome news!
Applauding the author and this blog for promoting such information that motivates us to be knowledgeable about news on new technology especially this amazing one!
Indeed, once compassion is combined with passion, success is certain. Hope to see more inspiring posts from you writer!
Nice blog!! Very interesting ♥️
Nc
Very interesting blog! Good job 👍🏻
Sign language was the only way of communication for people with hearing disabilities but even with sign language they still find it hard to communicate to other people because not all understands sign language, its great to discover that sign language is now made easier. I hope this would help a lot of the deaf community. What a comprehensive blog. Great Job🥰👍🏼
Very Informative, Great job to the author
Great idea created by an engineering student to help the deaf people. I hope, engineers shall give attention like deaf people in the near future.
I think the author of this blog really pointed out the importance of sign language as the way of communication for people with hearing disabilities but then not all the time it can be understand well. It is good to know that something has made for this to be more convenient and easier. Thus, this blog is really informative especially for the deep people. I just want to commend the author for a job well done in producing this blog.
Thank you so much for the information! This is really a good write-up <3
Thanks for the information, Andrea. You have an interesting topic and it’s good to know that there is now an AI that will help deaf and mute to communicate.
Nice blog ❤️, interesting topic
Good read! Definitely will recommend this to my friends. Keep up the good work!
This is a brilliant consideration for one of the minorities in our population. Hoping that with the rise of technology as stated in this study, it will fortunately give deaf-mute individuals ease with online communication. Overall, a good read. Kudos to the author. ✨
Amazing!!!👏
Very interesting topic Andrea! Will recommend this to my friends 💖
Very informative!
Pandemic also paved way for students to explore new opportunities to make this world adapt to the new normal.
This is a good read!
This type of efforts should gain more attention, especially in those who are in the tech field , programs like these should be one of the priority in the tech field as technology is suppose to make our lives easier.
I would like to commend the author of this blog. The topic is impressive, relevant and timely. Hoping that you could write another blog and continue to inspire others! I hope this blog can help other people who are in the same situation right now. I really enjoyed reading this blog and I can feel your passion in writing. You really did a great job and Iam proud of you. Padayon!💛
Good job!❤
Nice
Good job
Wow! This is amazing!
Well written! The topic is so timely and beneficial. Good job!
Good job
I’m really impressed!! Good job!!
Good job!!
very interesting blog. Thank you for this information
This blog is very informative and beneficial especially to the deaf community, they have now the chance to communicate and express their thought. I hope the author of this blog will continue to post this kind of content to inspire others.
Nice!
Wow! This is amazing!
Nice article! With the right support, this innovation could help a lot of people. Indeed, technology advances through time, and we should be inclusive of the things we innovate just like what Mx. Priyanjali did.
Very interesting/informative blog also very helpful to those in deaf community.
Nice Article! Very Accurate, Concise and Informative!