Chinese Lab Hopes to Commercialize Sign-Language Recognition Platform
From: EE Times - May 7, 2003
By: Mike Clendenin

The Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) in China has developed a software
platform that can translate spoken and written Chinese and other languages
into sign language via a virtual character that hearing-impaired users would
read. Digital gloves are used to make signs that the program translates back
into verbal or written cues. The software is about 85 percent to 90 percent
accurate, according to researchers. The program taps into a vast database of
words, facial expressions, and hand gestures the ICT has collated over
several years, but the software needs to be refined in several areas. The
digital character's face needs to be more expressive, while the
correspondence of hand gestures to facial expressions must be improved. "It
is very difficult to get the face expressions but it is important because if
you do not use the expression, you cannot always understand the meaning,"
explains Wang Zhaoqi of ICT's Digital Laboratory. Researchers are currently
building a database of facial expressions using computer-generated models of
volunteers who make expressions while wearing an array of sensors. The
program is currently restricted to desktop PCs and notebooks with robust
chips, and ICT project manager Huang Shu thinks getting the software to work
with handheld devices such as personal digital assistants will be key to the
technology's commercialization. 

http://www.eetonline.com/story/OEG20030307S0011