Daniel BuenoDeaf people may get improved access to information with a new system that transcribes digitized texts into sign language using an avatar. The phonetic- phonological transcription system developed at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) allows the digital text obtained by the user on his computer or even received by internet or mobile phone to be transcribed into signs using the Brazilian Sign Language System (Libras). “The purpose of this project is to offer a system of transcription for computer reproduction in real time, using a virtual signaling agent, in a three-dimensional model, which represents a human figure using sign language,” explains professor José Mario De Martino, from Unicamp’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, who coordinated the project along with Leland McCleary and Evani Viotti, both of whom are professors at the University of São Paulo (USP) School of Philosophy, Literature and the Humanities, and professor Plínio Barbosa, from Unicamp’s Institute of Language Studies (IEL). The system’s patent was filed in Brazil and, according to Martino, the sort of companies that might be interested in this technology would be cell phone and digital TV companies and internet portals.
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