Of course not everything at CES Unveiled tonight was all about fun and games. Take Krown Manufacturing's cool--and useful--Sign Language Translator. The device is a lot like those standard language translators we've been carrying around in our backpacks for years, only, as one you might have already guessed, this one translates text into sign language.
The device translates more that 3,500 English words. Just input the text and the gadget plays back a video of someone performing the sign language version of the word. Pretty neat, huh?
The Sign Language Translator has a 320-by-240-pixel touchscreen display with a software-based keyboard. It weighs about 6 ounces and gets about 6 hours on a charge.
Check out a video of the translator in action, after the jump.
Odd that they didn't add captions to their YouTube video? Good idea but is that workable for actual conversations? Will there be the ability to type in sentences instead of just words? What about words that have multiple meanings?
Posted by:
Ann C January 14, 2009 11:30 AM
I'm with Daryl. How could they fail to caption a video about a product for communicating with the hearing impaired? I also agree that it seems awfully rudimentary if you can't get a translation for common phrases and short sentences, at a minimum. But I guess it's a step in the right direction.
Posted by:
Laura January 14, 2009 1:32 PM
If I'm talking to a friend and don't know the sign, I fingerspell the word and they give me the sign and the conversation goes on. I would agree that this is a step in the right direction, but not one I would use. Ryan Patterson of Grand Jct. CO won a national science award in HS with a device that allowed the deaf person to sign or finger spell and the sign was translated into English for communication to nonsigners. Anybody know what happened to that?
Posted by:
Israel January 15, 2009 11:15 AM
this is gread i'm Deaf and one word can be alot for a Deaf person so now I can communicate with my hearing friens.
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January 14, 2009 2:24 AM
Odd that they didn't add captions to their YouTube video? Good idea but is that workable for actual conversations? Will there be the ability to type in sentences instead of just words? What about words that have multiple meanings?
January 14, 2009 11:30 AM
I'm with Daryl. How could they fail to caption a video about a product for communicating with the hearing impaired? I also agree that it seems awfully rudimentary if you can't get a translation for common phrases and short sentences, at a minimum. But I guess it's a step in the right direction.
January 14, 2009 1:32 PM
If I'm talking to a friend and don't know the sign, I fingerspell the word and they give me the sign and the conversation goes on. I would agree that this is a step in the right direction, but not one I would use. Ryan Patterson of Grand Jct. CO won a national science award in HS with a device that allowed the deaf person to sign or finger spell and the sign was translated into English for communication to nonsigners. Anybody know what happened to that?
January 15, 2009 11:15 AM
this is gread i'm Deaf and one word can be alot for a Deaf person so now I can communicate with my hearing friens.