Microsoft Uses Kinect to Interpret Sign Language from Deaf People

Posted: 6 years, 9 months ago

Microsoft’s Kinect technology, already adept at reading hand and body movements, is incorporating sign language into its motion-sensing vocabulary as part of a new research project meant to help the deaf.

Developers at Microsoft Research have been using the Xbox 360 gaming peripheral to read sign language from deaf users, and translate it into spoken text. On Wednesday, they showed off some of the results. “Thanks Microsoft for turning my dream into a reality,” gestured Yin Dandan, a deaf student, who demonstrated the Kinect translator.

The technology can not only turn sign language into words spoken by a computer, but also do the reverse. A non-deaf user can speak or type words into the Kinect translator. The system will then motion the words in sign language using a virtual avatar shown on a display.

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