Three ninth grade students from Colégio Santa Marcelina, in São Paulo, invented a Libras translation stick. With this project, they became finalists in the Brazilian Science and Engineering Fair (Febrace), the main engineering and science fair in the country that took place in March 2024.

The idea came about to facilitate communication between the hearing and the hearing-impaired in everyday interactions. The stick was built using robotics and programming techniques, which students Lucas Cazorla Laurente, Guilherme Rocha Lessa, and Thiago de Quina Barbosa developed under the supervision of teachers Caio Chaves Barbosa and Andressa Pinter Ninin, in the subject “Iteenerário – Investigative Science”, organized by Santa Marcelina to stimulate science among young people. The trio also wrote a scientific article to present the project at Febrace.

Gabriela C., age 10, a member of Clube do Joca, interviewed the students to learn a little more about the creation. Check it out below:

Why did you decide to make this sign language translation stick?

In 2022, we had a Computational Thinking class and learned about computer sensors that could identify images and different movements. So we thought: “let’s use this for something.” We focused on helping people with what we learned. We heard a lot about hearing impairment and encountered people with hearing impairment, so we decided to do something in this field.

What was the process of creating this stick like?

First, we really focused on the physics and science class we had about sensors. We thought about how to develop this project, how to help people, and then we created the stick. While we were studying algorithms, we learned about machine learning, which is basically training machines on patterns using a database. And then, we combined this database with the use of Arduino (a platform for software development) and sensors, creating a logic that could program the reading and translation of Libra signals.

How exactly does it work?

First, there’s the data input through the camera, which is in fact the stick sensor, and that is a database. Before anything else, we feed the database with several images to train the machine learning. When the stick (in this case, the database), has already been trained with the information, it receives the images captured through the sensor. Then, using artificial intelligence, the system checks the stored information looking for the sign that is most like the image input that the stick has received. The sign is then translated to text on a screen on the stick.

So it identifies the gesture and then shows a text that translates the Libras sign the person is expressing?

That’s exactly it: it will receive an image, interpret this image using the database and the artificial intelligence algorithm, and then produce the translation from Libras to Portuguese.

Did you enjoy taking part in FEBRACE?

We learned a lot of new things, we saw many other projects, we got to know the campus of the University of São Paulo (USP), which is huge and really cool to visit. We talked to a lot of people from other places, from different parts of Brazil, it was really cool and important to take to life.

I can imagine that you have done a few tests with the stick, but has it been used in everyday situations?

It has really worked in practice and yes, it is actually functional. But it isn’t available on the market yet, or been in the hands of someone who really has this disability or whom the stick could help, not yet. At FEBRACE,  it was used and tested by people who are hearing-impaired, but it has not been sold so it is not a   part of people’s daily lives.

Glossary:Software: a system of coordinates or data in a computer which together operate a machine.

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