Voice Activated Robotic Hand - Sign Language Gestures for the Impaired Hearing

The Project

This project is a robotic hand that can convert trained spoken voice commands into American Sign Language (ASL) hand gestures. It uses a voice recognition module, known as the EasyVR 3 Plus, and an Arduino to recognize commands. This system takes in an audio input through a microphone and moves the servo motors controlling the fingers and wrist in the robotic hand as an output. There is minimal investment in technology to help people with hearing disabilities. Companies produce industrial robots with the sole purpose to generate more revenues for the company. This innovative project focuses in bringing a simple concept of converting spoken commands into American Sign Language (ASL) hand gestures that can be easily decoded by someone with hearing impairment. With readily available electrical components such as microcontroller boards and sensors, we can easily create this innovative product. There is a large communication gap with individuals that have hearing loss. These individuals face many problems, which include social withdrawal and lack of access to public places, such as presentations. This project will be used for the betterment of society. It will allow those with disabling hearing to participate with the rest of society, by bridging the communication gap. This also reduces the need for sign language interpreters. Sign language interpreters may face difficulty in converting words to ASL for long durations of time. This robotic hand ensures that there will be no time exhaustion or limit for how long it can be operated!

View this project on YouTube