Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Mobile ASL

University of Washington engineers are testing a device they call Mobile ASL. The software uses motion detection to identify when someone is using sign language and then it sends the info through smart phones. While the technology is not available yet for the general public, prototypes are now in the hands of some two dozen deaf people in Seattle. A larger study planned for the winter. It could potentially run on any device. The advantage of this software is that it uses a fraction of the bandwidth used by the video conferencing features offered on phones like the HTC Evo and Apple iPhone 4.