Delhi: 20-year old creates AI model that can understand sign language

New Delhi: People who cannot speak or speak properly face challenges in making a person who cannot understand sign language. In a bid to make their lives easier, Delhi-based engineering student Priyanjali Gupta has created an AI model that can understand gestures. 

A student of Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, Priyanjali is currently pursuing her engineering degree. Priyanjali’s mother is a lecturer at Delhi University and her father works at Spice Jet.

In an interaction with DNA Hindi, Priyanjali said that her mom motivated her to be an engineer and innovate for good. “Nowadays people are doing so many startups, doing innovation, you are also engineering student, you should also do something,” her mother told her when she had come to her home in Delhi. 

Priyanjali, 20, said that she had noticed the Alexa device which takes commands when a user speaks. She realised that for those who cannot speak or cannot hear, Alexa is of no use. “That's where the idea of ​​making an AI model came to my mind and I started working on it,” she said. 

In a LinkedIn post, Priyanjali said “Made this model using this cool Tensorflow object detection api. The model translates a few ASL signs to English using transfer learning from pretrained ssd_mobilenet model,” she said.

Priyanjali started working on the idea in February 2021. She made the model based on her knowledge about computer vision in December last year, but that didn’t work out well. 

She again tried in January and took help from the internet. She said, 'I did all the research and hard work myself to make this. Did not get any guidance, but the internet helped a lot. I kept awake for three consecutive nights to bring this model to the final stage.” Also Read: OnePlus launches two new smart TVs in India --Check price, specs and other details

At present, the model made by Priyanjali can understand six signs - Hello, I Love You, Thank You, Please, Yes, No. As the project is in its early stages, it will surely take time to make it fully functional. She currently needs to better platform and guidance to make the model better. Also Read: iPhone 12 on discount: Phone’s price slashed on Amazon, Flipkart, check exchange offers