Hi!

I have relatives that speak sign language, and always found it odd that despite unbelievable advances in AI in recent years, the problem still felt somewhat neglected.

Especially with the advent of wearable tech; to my knowledge, this is the first project that integrates the meta glasses w/ fingerspelling translation software.

As for the technical aspect, I trained a neural net on Google's FSboard dataset modeling a CNN + GRU temporal encoder architecture (trained with CTC), and then decoded the output with CTC beam search and a KenLM language model to solve some of the deficiencies with my model.

I've also made it cross-platform (web + iOS, with both web screen sharing and the ability to use non smart-glasses). The project is entirely FOSS.

I'm currently working on making the on-device model work cleanly, but unfortunately performance takes a bit of hit on lower-end devices so for now I've opted for hosting the model on Modal.

There's so much room for improvement, but I'm happy with this starting point. Let me know what you think, and check out the YouTube demo!

fingerspelling != sign language

In sign languages facial expressions and body language function as core grammatical tools known as non-manual markers, used in grammar and syntax, distinguishing adverbs and adjectives, indicating tone and intensity. Classifiers, abbreviated as CL, are signed morphemes (particularly, classifier handshapes) that represent a group of nouns or referents. Fingerspelling hand shapes are the building blocks for the hand-related elements of the language (signs done with the hands) whose meaning is dependent on the context, much like a spoken language's word's meaning can be affected by where in a sentence it is placed, tone/pitch, etc.

From a technical viewpoint, if you intend to push beyond where most projects similar to this one have ended up, it might be interesting to consider SL handshapes as analogous to tokens in an LLM, vector encoding them to capture the context and semantic meaning.

From the human relationship POV, making an effort to learn full natural sign language to communicate with your relatives will no doubt make them very happy and enrich their lives and yours.