This document describes a project called Boltay Haath which aims to develop a computerized system for recognizing Pakistan Sign Language (PSL) gestures in real-time. The system uses data gloves to capture hand gestures which are then analyzed by the computer to synthesize the corresponding sound. The project team includes a mentor and 4 members. The system is designed to recognize single-handed PSL signs using techniques like artificial neural networks and statistical template matching. It aims to help improve communication between deaf and normal communities.
A Translation Device for the Vision Based Sign Languageijsrd.com
The Sign language is very important for people who have hearing and speaking deficiency generally called Deaf and Mute. It is the only mode of communication for such people to convey their messages and it becomes very important for people to understand their language. This paper proposes the method or algorithm for an application which would help in recognizing the different signs which is called Indian Sign Language. The images are of the palm side of right and left hand and are loaded at runtime. The method has been developed with respect to single user. The real time images will be captured first and then stored in directory and on recently captured image and feature extraction will take place to identify which sign has been articulated by the user through SIFT(scale invariance Fourier transform) algorithm. The comparisons will be performed in arrears and then after comparison the result will be produced in accordance through matched key points from the input image to the image stored for a specific letter already in the directory or the database the outputs for the following can be seen in below sections. There are 26 signs in Indian Sign Language corresponding to each alphabet out which the proposed algorithm provided with 95% accurate results for 9 alphabets with their images captured at every possible angle and distance.
I'm Sahil Rohilla, and I love to make weird stuff out of electronics! It is my passion. For this project, I'd like to take you through my process of creating Smart Glove, a functional cell phone that you wear on your hand. I see it as my first attempt at giving something back to the online communities of makers I've been learning from
The idea came into my mind when one of my friends had to remove his gloves again and again to attend his phone calls in a touch screen phone in winter. So I thought why not to build something that we can wear every time and that can act as an alternate for our cellphone
After 18 days of research and 2 prototypes I was finally able to build a calling glove that I named as smart glove. The dial pad is in our fingers like we used to count digits on our fingers in our childhood the speaker and the microphone are in thumb and little finger respectively. Though the model is still in testing process but is still working outstandingly
Any of the processes involved in this project can easily be applied to any project in the realm of hacked electronics, DIY hardware, or digital fabrication. That said, I hope you enjoy learning about: Smart Glove.
A Translation Device for the Vision Based Sign Languageijsrd.com
The Sign language is very important for people who have hearing and speaking deficiency generally called Deaf and Mute. It is the only mode of communication for such people to convey their messages and it becomes very important for people to understand their language. This paper proposes the method or algorithm for an application which would help in recognizing the different signs which is called Indian Sign Language. The images are of the palm side of right and left hand and are loaded at runtime. The method has been developed with respect to single user. The real time images will be captured first and then stored in directory and on recently captured image and feature extraction will take place to identify which sign has been articulated by the user through SIFT(scale invariance Fourier transform) algorithm. The comparisons will be performed in arrears and then after comparison the result will be produced in accordance through matched key points from the input image to the image stored for a specific letter already in the directory or the database the outputs for the following can be seen in below sections. There are 26 signs in Indian Sign Language corresponding to each alphabet out which the proposed algorithm provided with 95% accurate results for 9 alphabets with their images captured at every possible angle and distance.
I'm Sahil Rohilla, and I love to make weird stuff out of electronics! It is my passion. For this project, I'd like to take you through my process of creating Smart Glove, a functional cell phone that you wear on your hand. I see it as my first attempt at giving something back to the online communities of makers I've been learning from
The idea came into my mind when one of my friends had to remove his gloves again and again to attend his phone calls in a touch screen phone in winter. So I thought why not to build something that we can wear every time and that can act as an alternate for our cellphone
After 18 days of research and 2 prototypes I was finally able to build a calling glove that I named as smart glove. The dial pad is in our fingers like we used to count digits on our fingers in our childhood the speaker and the microphone are in thumb and little finger respectively. Though the model is still in testing process but is still working outstandingly
Any of the processes involved in this project can easily be applied to any project in the realm of hacked electronics, DIY hardware, or digital fabrication. That said, I hope you enjoy learning about: Smart Glove.
This presentation highlights the application of "5-Phase Project Management" implemented by Weiss and Wysocki, towards an automated traffic control system.
My new upload !!! --> http://www.slideshare.net/choleraparth91/smart-vehicle-ensuring-safe-ride-using-accerolometer-laser-sensor-co-sensor-and-also-with-use-of-gsm-modem-and-solar-panel
Contact & follow me to get PDF & PPT file - https://www.linkedin.com/in/parthcholera/
Email me directly if you want these file !!
choleraparth91@yahoo.com
or
contact me on fb - https://www.facebook.com/choleraparth91
or
https://www.facebook.com/Textivity
or
message me on - 08097508067
I suggest to go for these project !!! :D :D
This presentation highlights the application of "5-Phase Project Management" implemented by Weiss and Wysocki, towards an automated traffic control system.
My new upload !!! --> http://www.slideshare.net/choleraparth91/smart-vehicle-ensuring-safe-ride-using-accerolometer-laser-sensor-co-sensor-and-also-with-use-of-gsm-modem-and-solar-panel
Contact & follow me to get PDF & PPT file - https://www.linkedin.com/in/parthcholera/
Email me directly if you want these file !!
choleraparth91@yahoo.com
or
contact me on fb - https://www.facebook.com/choleraparth91
or
https://www.facebook.com/Textivity
or
message me on - 08097508067
I suggest to go for these project !!! :D :D
HCI BASED APPLICATION FOR PLAYING COMPUTER GAMES | J4RV4I1014Journal For Research
This paper describes a command interface for games based on hand gestures and voice command defined by postures, movement and location. The system uses computer vision requiring no sensors or markers by the user. In voice command the speech recognizer, recognize the input from the user. It stores and passes command to the game, action takes place. We propose a simple architecture for performing real time colour detection and motion tracking using a webcam. The next step is to track the motion of the specified colours and the resulting actions are given as input commands to the system. We specify blue colour for motion tracking and green colour for mouse pointer. The speech recognition is the process of automatically recognizing a certain word spoken by a particular speaker based on individual information included in speech waves. This application will help in reduction in hardware requirement and can be implemented in other electronic devices also.
Comapanies listed on Karachi stock exchange PakistanAshar Ahmed
An extract from the daily stock summary of all Companies traded on Karachi stock exchange Pakistan dated 19th January 2013. You can google the company name to get more details.
Preparation of financial statements in pakistanAshar Ahmed
Preparation of financial statements in Pakistan according to Companies Ordinance 1984 and IFRS
You can now download the full editable version of this file at following link:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26760858/Preparation-of-Financial-Statements-in-Pakistan
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...
Boltay Haath
1. Project Mentor:
Mr. Aleem Khalid Alvi [aleem_alvi@yahoo.com] [akalvi@ssuet.edu.pk]
Assistant Professor
Team Members:
Mr. Ali Muzzaffar [ali_muzzafar@yahoo.com] [alim@ssuet.edu.pk]
Mr. Mehmood Usman [apnamehmood@yahoo.co.uk] [mgazdhar@ssuet.edu.pk]
Mr. Suleman Mumtaz [smkhowaja@yahoo.com] [smumtaz@ssuet.edu.pk]
Mr. Yousuf Bin Azhar [musuf@yahoo.com] [muhybina@ssuet.edu.pk]
http://www.boltayhaath.cjb.net
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1. ABSTRACT
Humans know each other by conveying their ideas, thoughts, and experiences to the people
around them. There are numerous ways to achieve this and the best one among the rest is the
gift of “Speech”. Through speech everyone can very convincingly transfer their thoughts and
understand each other. It will be injustice if we ignore those who are deprived of this
invaluable gift.
The only means of communication available to the vocally disabled is the use of “Sign
Language”. Using sign language they are limited to their own world. This limitation prevents
them from interacting with the outer world to share their feelings, creative ideas and
potentials. Another problem is that very few people who are not themselves deaf ever learn to
sign. This therefore increases the isolation of deaf and dumb people.
Technology is one way to remove this hindrance and benefit these people, and the project
Boltay Haath is one such attempt to solve this problem by computerized recognition of sign
language. Boltay Haath is an Urdu phrase which means ‘Talking Hands’. The basic concept
involves the use of special data gloves connected to a computer while a vocally disabled
person (who is wearing the gloves) makes the signs. The computer analyzes these gestures
and synthesizes the sound for the corresponding word or letter for ordinary people to
understand.
Several researchers have explored these possibilities and have successfully achieved finger-
spelling recognition with high levels of accuracy, but progress in the recognition of sign
language, as a whole has been limited.
This project is an attempt to recognize Pakistan Sign Language (PSL), which has not been
done in any other system. Furthermore, the Boltay Haath project aims to produce sound
matching the accent and pronunciation of the people of the region in which PSL is used.
Since only single-handed gestures have been considered in this project it is obviously
necessary to select a subset of PSL to be considered for implementation of Boltay Haath as it
would take vast amounts of time to sample most or all of the 4000 signs in PSL.
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3. #" $%%& Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology
2. SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The system objective was to develop a computerized Pakistan Sign Language (PSL)
recognition system which is an application of Human Computer Interface (HCI). The system
considers only single handed gestures; therefore a subset of PSL has been selected for the
implementation of Boltay Haath. The basic concept involves the use of computer interfaced
data gloves worn by a disabled person who makes the signs. The computer analyzes these
gestures, minimizes the variations and synthesizes the sound for the corresponding word or
letter for normal people to understand. The basic working of the project is depicted in the
following figure.
Figure 2.1 - System Diagram
The above diagram clearly explains the scope and use of the Boltay Haath system. The
system aims at bridging communication gaps between the deaf community and other people.
When fully operational the system will help in minimizing communication gaps, easier
collaboration and will also enable sharing of ideas and experiences.
2.1 PERFORMANCE MEASURES
The following performance parameters were kept in mind during the design of the project:
• Recognition time: A gesture should take approximately 0.25 to 0.5 second in the
recognition process in order to respond in real time.
• Synchronized speech synthesis. The speech output corresponding to a gesture should
not lag behind the gesture output by more than 0.25 seconds.
• Continuous and automatic recognition: To be more natural the system must be
capable of recognizing the gestures continuously without any manual indication or
help for demarcating the consecutive gestures.
• Recognition Accuracy: The system must recognize the gestures accurately between
80 to 90 percent.
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2.2 DESIGN METHODOLOGY
Waterfall plus Iterative model for the development of Boltay Haath has been followed. This
model was selected because a thorough design of the system was needed before initiating. All
the specifications had to be outlined in detail and all issues worked out so that the
development of this project could carry out within the time and cost constraints. In other
words architecture-first development has been attempted. After this stage a broad
understanding was developed by the team and trouble spots could easily be sensed in the
design. So naturally the next logical step was to repeat the critical stages of the process to
iron out any problems in the way as well as evaluate design alternatives and tradeoffs. Object
oriented approach being the most practical way of developing such kind of projects was
obviously the best choice for the project. Test plans have also been designed to test the
system systematically. The sub systems were tested separately as well as in cohesion.
Five Improvements for the Waterfall
Model to Work
- Complete program design before
analysis and coding begins
- Maintain current and complete
documentation.
- Do the job twice, if possible.
- Plan, control, and monitor testing.
- Involve the user.
Figure 2.2 - Waterfall plus Iterative Model
2.3 UNIQUE AND INNOVATIVE IDEAS
Different people in different regions of the world have contributed towards the recognition of
sign language of their regions but so far no work has ever been done regarding the
recognition of sign language (PSL) of our region. So, Boltay Haath is the first system which
contributes in achieving this noble cause. Furthermore, the system aims to produce sound
matching the accent and pronunciation of the people of the region in which PSL is used.
The recognition systems developed to date usually solves the problem of gesture demarcation
through the use of various manual techniques and operations. To make the system more
natural and interactive, Boltay Haath uses the technique for the real time continuous
recognition of gestures, hence no need for any manual indication or signal.
Although the primary objective of Boltay Haath is to recognize Pakistan Sign Language but
the system is capable of recognizing any other sign language of the world by learning their
respective gestures.
The Boltay Haath system can be modified for use on hand held devices thus making the
system more portable and easier to use in daily life. For this purpose the Microsoft compact
framework for .Net is the best candidate since the system is being developed using current
.Net technologies.
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5. #" $%%& Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology
3. IMPLEMENTATION AND ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS
3.1 PSL SIGNS USED IN BOLTAY HAATH
The sign language into Sub-domains that is English and Urdu. This is because of the
similarity of some gestures. Moreover English and Urdu both contain gestures of words and
letters. Gestures have been categorized into Dynamic and Static. In Urdu there are 38 letters.
In which few are dynamic and words are of both types one-handed and two-handed. In
English there are 26 letters. In which two are dynamic and words are of both types one-
handed and two-handed. PSL also contains domain specific signs for example computer
terms, Environmental terms and Traffic terms
Figure 3.1 - English and Urdu Alphabet Signs in PSL
3.2 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The Boltay Haath system is divided in to the following sub systems:
• Gesture Database – Contains all the persistent data related to the system.
• Gesture Acquisition – Gets state of hand (position of fingers, roll and pitch) from
glove and convey to the main software.
• Training- It uses the collected data to train the system.
• Gesture Recognition Engine – Analyzes the input to recognize the gesture made by
the user. Two different techniques have been implemented for this purpose namely
Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Statistical Template Matching (STM).
• Gesture Output- for gesture and textual data. Converts word/ letters obtained after
gesture Recognition into corresponding sound.
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6. #" $%%& Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology
• Accelerometer- Accelerometer detects motion of the hand, in order to demarcate start
and end of gestures for continuous gesture recognition.
The following figure illustrates the architecture of the Boltay Haath system:
Figure 3.2 - System Architecture [1]
A detailed description of the architecture, the implementation techniques and the algorithms
of the system are given below:
3.3 GESTURE DATABASE
A particular input sample in this system is defined by the combination of five sensors for
fingers and one tilt sensor for roll and pitch which is stored in the Gesture Database during
the data acquisition phase. The gestures in the database are organized with respect to there
area of use i.e. its domain. For example, the alphabet domains contain the Urdu and English
alphabet gestures. Word domains may contain the list of emergency gestures, daily routine
gestures and other special gestures. The database also stores relevant data like gesture’s
phoneme†, training results of STM and ANN and Registered Users‡ information.
3.4 DATA ACQUISITION
This sub system captures the state of the hand (flexure of fingers, roll and pitch) from the
glove and stores it in the Gesture Database for further processing. It handles all the data
coming to and from the Data Glove. The driver software provided by the vendor had to be
adapted for use in the .Net managed environment and hence a wrapper class for the Glove
†
Phoneme is the smallest phonetic unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning.
‡
Registered Users are those users who participated in the training of the system.
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7. #" $%%& Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology
Driver was written in C# for use in the system. During acquisition the training data are
identified by the Gesture ID of their corresponding signs and stored in a table for later use by
the training algorithms.
An input sample consists of five values ranging from 0 to 255 each representing the state of
the sensor on all five fingers of the glove. The sensors for roll and pitch have been ignored in
case of non-moving gestures since their values do not uniquely identify an alphabet sign [2].
The sequence diagram showing the use of data acquisition interface in gesture recognition is
shown below.
Figure 3.3 – Data Acquisition Sequence Diagram
3.5 DATA GLOVE
The input device used in Boltay Haath is the
5DT Data Glove 5. It is equipped with sensors
that sense the movements of the hand and
interface those movements with a computer. The
5DT Data Glove 5 measures finger flexure and
the orientation (pitch and roll) of user’s hand. It
consists of 8-bit flexure resolution, Platform
independent - serial port, interface (RS 232),
built in 2-axis tilt sensor.
Figure 3.4 - Components of 5DT Data Glove 5
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3.6 TRAINING
The Training sub system trains the system so that it can perform gesture recognition
afterwards. The training process is different for the two different modes of operation of
Gesture Recognition Engine (GRE) i.e., Statistical Template Matching (STM) and Artificial
Neural Network (ANN). In both cases training is a batch process.
For the generalized recognition of gestures it was necessary to collect the data from different
users. The system was trained by using data obtained from six different signers [3]. Initially,
training data was collected for the non-moving gestures as in [4] of English as well as Urdu,
since PSL contains both types of signs [5]. This was done due to the limitations of the input
device i.e., the Data Glove 5 does not provide the abduction status and the absence of any
kind of input about the location of the glove in space.
The separate training processes for STM and ANN are disused below.
3.6.1 STATISTICAL TEMPLATE SPECIFICATION (STS)
The idea is to demarcate different gestures by calculating the mean (µ) and standard
deviations (σ) of all the sensors for each gesture in the training set. The resultant (µ, ) pairs
are stored in the gesture database for later use in gesture recognition and are called templates.
Thus the process is named “Template Specification”. The mean and standard deviation is
calculated for each sensor of each gesture as follows:
(3.1)
(3.2)
Here, xi is the ith sensor value, n is the number of samples, µ(l,m) is the mean of the lth sensor
of the mth gesture and σ(l,m) is the standard deviation of the lth sensor of the mth gesture.
Figure 3.5 – STS Sequence Diagram
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3.6.2 ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK TRAINING (COMMITTEE SYSTEM)
The Artificial Neural Networks Training (ANN) sub system allows the training of the various
neural networks in the system. It collects data from the Gesture Database and applies
supervised learning algorithm (Backpropagation [6]) for training the neural networks and
finally saves the networks in the database.
Since a single network could not converge on the available data it did not perform well. So it
was decided to tackle the problem with a divide and conquer approach. This technique,
labeled a committee system [7], combines the outputs of multiple networks called experts to
produce a classification rather than using only a single network. The rationale is the
realization that there is not one global minimum into which every net trains but that there are
many minima where adequate classification on the training examples can be obtained. So by
combining the output of several networks it may be possible to gain superior generalization
than that of any single network.
Each small network for a particular gesture is called an ‘expert’. The training data for each of
the experts contains equal number of samples of both classes that it classified. For example,
the training set for the expert for ‘A’ contains half samples of ‘A’ and the remaining half
would comprise of the rest of the signs. Backpropagation was used to train the experts. A
learning rate of 0.1 was used and the training set comprised of more than 2000 samples for
each expert. The input was scaled further from the range of 0 to 255 to –1.28 to 1.27. This
further scaling reduced the error and provided better results after training. This is some times
called pre-processing
Figure 3.6 – ANN Training Sequence Diagram
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3.7 GESTURE RECOGNITION ENGINE
The Gesture Recognition Engine is the core of the system. It performs gesture recognition
using the two techniques (STM and ANN). It interacts with most of the subsystems. It takes
gesture input from the Gesture Input subsystem, identifies them and gives output through the
Output subsystem in text and speech. The separate recognition processes for STM and ANN
are disused below.
3.7.1 STATISTICAL TEMPLATE MATCHING
The statistical model used in Boltay Haath is the simplest approach to recognize postures
(static gestures) [8], [9]. The model used is known as “Template Matching” or “Prototype
Matching” [10]. The idea is to demarcate different gestures by calculating the mean (µ) and
standard deviations (σ) of all the sensors for a gesture and then those input samples that are
within limits bounded by an integral multiple of standard deviation are recognized to be
correct. Gesture boundary [11] for each sensor is defined as,
(3.3)
Here, µ is the mean and σ is the standard deviation of that sensor whose gesture boundary is
to be defined. Similarly gesture boundaries for each sensor of all the gestures are defined and
used in Pattern Matching.
3.7.1.1 ALGORITHMIC MODEL
a) PATTERN RECOGNITION
After Statistical Template Specification (STS), test samples are provided to the pattern
recognition module, which analyzes them using the statistical model [12]. The upper
and lower limits for the value of a sensor for a particular gesture are defined using the
standard deviation for that sensor previously calculated. For enhancing the accuracy of
gesture recognition, various integral multiples of σ are used, denoted by k in (3.3). The
limits for any given gesture are defined as:
(3.4)
- (3.5)
Given the above-mentioned criteria, any given input can be classified as a particular
gesture if all the sensor values of the test sample lie within these limits (i.e. the gesture
boundary). These values are retrieved from the gesture database. The values of k used
for gesture recognition in Boltay Haath range from 1 to 3, providing tolerances ranging
from 2σ to 6σ. The performance achieved by varying the values of k is discussed later
in Testing and Verification.
b) AMBIGUITY AMONG OUTPUTS
Sometimes due to ambiguity among two
or more gestures STM may produce
multiple outputs. The ambiguity is
created due to the overlapping of
different gesture boundaries. The
overlapping increases as the value of k is
increased from 1 to 3.To cater to this
Fig 3.7 Ambiguous Signs
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problem the method of Least Mean Squares (LMS) is used. Figure 3.7 shows two
ambiguous signs ‘R’ and ‘H’.
c) LMS FOR REMOVING AMBIGUITY
There are cases where more than one gestures are candidates for output. To overcome
this type of situation the system calculates Least Mean Squares (LMS) [13] of all the
candidate gestures and then selects the one with minimum LMS value. It is calculated
as,
(3.6)
Here, xi denotes the sensor value of the ith sensor from test sample; µi denote mean
value for the ith sensor.
LMS for each candidate gesture is calculated and the gesture with least LMS value is
selected as the final output. The use of LMS is justified by the results. Analyzing the
performance of the system it has been observed that the use of LMS provides accurate
results 60 % of the time.
Figure 3.8 – STM Gesture Recognition Sequence Diagram
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3.7.2 ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK (ANN)
In this mode, the GRE takes input data and feeds it to multiple artificial neural networks in
parallel. The approach taken is to initially process the input data so as to produce a
description in terms of the various features (handshape, orientation and motion) of a sign. The
sign can then be classified on the basis of the feature vector thus produced. This mode uses
our Artificial Neural Network Library (ANNLIB) to run Multi Layer Perceptrons (MLPs) for
recognition.
3.7.2.1 COMMITTEE SYSTEM FOR RECOGNITION
The various experts (neural networks for each gesture) were trained using a “one
against all” technique in which each network is trained for a particular sign to give a
positive response for that sign and a negative one for all the others. So in the final
system all the experts have the same architecture and are given the same input. Fig 3.9
shows the committee system used in the system.
Output
Voting
Mechanism
Input
Figure 3.9 - Committee System
a) ARCHITECTURE OF EXPERTS
The architecture of the experts used in the committee system is 5:8:1 i.e., 5 inputs, 8
hidden nodes and 1 output node. The activation function for nodes in the hidden layer
was Sigmoid Logistic and Hyperbolic for output nodes.
b) VOTING MECHANISM
The voting mechanism takes the output of all the experts as its input. It identifies the
resultant gesture by examining the outputs of all the experts and selecting the one with
a positive result.
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c) FINAL CLASSIFICATION
Since the experts could not be optimally trained, multiple experts can give a positive
result. To solve this problem the results of each expert can be multiplied with its
accuracy by the voting mechanism to give more weightage to the result of more
accurate experts over less accurate ones. And finally the output with the largest
positive value is selected as recognized gesture.
Figure 3.10– ANN Gesture Recognition Sequence Diagram
3.8 OUTPUT
The output of the system has two forms, one is the formatted text and other is in the form of
speech. Obviously the important one is the speech output as it accomplishes the objective of
the system.
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3.8.1 TEXT
This subsystem outputs recognized sign into formatted text. The Urdu sign is output into
Roman Urdu† language. This text output is then used by Text-to-speech module for its
processing.
3.8.2 SPEECH
The text-to-speech subsystem converts text into synthesized Urdu / English speech using
Microsoft Speech SDK version 5.1[14]. The lexicon and phoneme sets have been modified so
that it can pronounce words correctly in local accent.
Figure 3.11– Speech Output Sequence Diagram
3.9 ACCELEROMETER
Accelerometer is used for detecting a sign continuously without any need of manual aid for
indicating the start or end of a gesture. It automatically identifies the ending of one gesture
and start of the other. In this way gestures are recognized in continuous fashion.
3.9.1 ALGORITHMIC MODEL
Acceleration is calculated for each sensor by averaging the differences between the last n
inputs (in a sliding window fashion). When the acceleration of all the sensors is below a
certain threshold value, the system identifies the state of hand as stationary and sends the
sensor values for recognition to the engine. As soon as the acceleration exceeds the threshold
value the system marks the hand as in motion and stops recognition. The sliding window size
and the threshold values are adjusted so that the user need not make a deliberate effort to stop
†
Roman Urdu - Urdu written with the use of English alphabets.
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for sometime in order to get the sign recognized. It is accessed by user through an
accelerometer interface. The user can set the threshold value and sliding window size
according to his/her needs.
Window size = 8
150 151 152 153 154 156 159 161 165 168 172 178 182 185 186 190
2 3 2 4 3 4 6
Threshold = 1.8
A = 2+3+2+4+3+4+6 = 24 = 3.43
7 7
A> Threshold therefore hand is in motion
Figure 3.12(a) - Motion Detection (Hand in motion)
The above figure shows how the accelerometer determines that the hand is in motion. The
sliding window shows the state of a sliding window for a single sensor. The differences are
shown in triangles. The average of these differences is above the threshold value. Hence the
system identifies the sensor to be in motion.
Window size = 8
150 151 152 153 154 155 155 156 157 158 158 159 160 161 161 161
1 0 1 1 1 0 1
Threshold = 1.8
A = 1+0+1+1+1+0+1 = 5 = 0.714
7 7
A< Threshold therefore hand is stationary
Figure 3.12(b) - Motion Detection (Hand is stationary)
The above figure shows how the accelerometer determines that the hand is stationary. The
sliding window shows the state of a sliding window for a single sensor. The average of these
differences is below the threshold value. Hence the system identifies the sensor to be
stationary.
The accelerometer is used on a per sensor basis. So for five sensors, five accelerometer
objects are used and each is continuously provided with its corresponding sensor value. The
accelerometer design used till now is limited to either static gestures or dynamic gestures.
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3.10 DEVELOPED TOOLS
In the course of developing the system various tools and libraries were developed. This
includes wrapper class for glove driver (5DT Data Glove5 driver) in C#, its driver was
written originally in VC++ (unmanaged) and was converted in to C# (managed code). An
Artificial Neural Networks library ANNLib was written in C#. Also, a performance
evaluation tool for evaluating performance of STM and ANN recognition systems efficiency
was developed.
3.10.1 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION TOOL FOR GRE (PETool)
The PETool evaluates the results obtained by applying the test data to gesture recognition
engines of STM and ANN and generate reports and graphical view of data for performance
evaluation purpose. The simulation data is used to evaluate whether the current
configurations of STM and ANN are providing acceptable results or not.
3.11 TRADEOFFS
Many tradeoffs regarding accuracy and efficiency were made during the design and
implementation of the system. A major issue was the training of neural networks. The amount
of training data, the optimal architecture of the neural networks and the classification
mechanism were a few considerations. For quick training the training data set needed to be
small and for greater accuracy more data was needed but more time was required for training.
The quality of training data was of major concern for STM as well as ANN. The greater the
number of registered users, the better the generalization. But more data does not come
without its share of bad samples.
In STM recognition, gesture boundaries of sensors are defined as µ ± kσ , the system uses
k=3 after trying all values of 1, 2 and 3. This model µ ± 3σ covers large variation of data
(up to 6-sigma) but at the same time increases the overlapping of different gestures. This
overlapping of gestures creates ambiguity among outputs that has to be removed with the use
of LMS.
A similar case can be made for speech output. Text to speech output provides an efficient
way of producing speech output but the quality of sound produced is not at par with pre-
recorded human voice. However, recorded voices incur a heavy processing cost on the
system when it comes to real-time recognition.
The accelerometer is used to filter the data stream coming form the Data Glove in a thread.
So obviously the performance of the thread will degrade if a decision making block is
executed at each cycle. Same is the case with the accelerometer component [15].
3.12 IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS
Boltay Haath system has been developed in C# using Visual Studio .Net 2002. The gesture
database was maintained on a MS Access database file. Windows being the platform for the
project, all the user interfaces and input components are standard Windows objects. Microsoft
Speech SDK 5.1 was used for speech output.
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3.13 COST
Cost of components used in this project is given below.
Item Cost
5DT Data Glove 5 $ 300
3.14 TESTING AND VERIFICATION
The sub systems were tested separately to check their performance in various scenarios.
Because Boltay Haath has a highly modular design, top-down and bottom-up integration
occurred simultaneously. However, the system was integrated incrementally, to control the
amount of bugs that need to be fixed at any given time. Tests conducted in a black box
fashion.
Finally it was tested that software meets the performance criteria set during design system
specification. These tests were performed signers facility since it was deemed to know if the
hardware available meets the performance criteria.
3.14.1 TEST FOR RECOGNITION ACCURACY
The results were obtained using the PETool that was specially developed for measuring
performance of the system.
a) STATISTICAL TEMPLATE MATCHING TEST RESULTS
Domain Accuracy (%)
k=1 k=2 k=3
English Alphabets 24 73 80
Urdu Alphabets 24 84 88
Table 3.1 – Performance Result (Statistical Template Matching)
Figure 3.13(a) – Alphabet wise recognition accuracy for STM - English
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Figure 3.13 (b) – Alphabet wise recognition accuracy for STM - Urdu
b) ANN COMMITTEE SYSTEM TEST RESULTS
Domain Accuracy (%)
24 Handshapes 84
Table 3.2 – Performance Result (ANN classification with committee system)
Figure 3.14 – Alphabet wise accuracy for ANN Committee System - English
3.14.2 TEST FOR RECOGNITION TIME
Multiple gestures were provided to the system in sequence and the average time was
calculated using the system clock. Under normal conditions the average recognition time was
0.4 seconds.
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3.14.3 TEST FOR SYNCHRONIZED SPEECH SYNTHESIS
This performance parameter was measured using an external timing device and was found to
be within the prescribed limits.
3.14.4 TEST FOR CONTINUSOUS RECOGNITION
The system is able to distinguish between consecutive gestures using the accelerometer
component.
4. SUMMARY
Deaf and dumb people rely on sign language interpreters for communication. However, they
cannot depend on interpreters in every day life mainly due to the high costs involved and the
difficulty in finding qualified interpreters. This system will help disabled persons in
improving their quality of life significantly.
The automatic recognition of sign language is an attractive prospect; the technology exists to
make it possible, while the potential applications are exciting and worthwhile. To date the
research emphasis has been on the capture and classification of the gestures of sign language.
This project will be a valuable addition to the ongoing research in the field of Human
Computer Interface (HCI).
The Boltay Haath system has been shown to work for Pakistan Signing Language (PSL)
without invoking complex hand models. The results obtained indicate that the system is able
to recognize signs efficiently with a good percentage of success.
Future research regarding Boltay Haath will address more complex gestures, such as those
gestures involving two hands. System will be investigated by other ways to model the gesture
dynamics, such as HMMs that achieve minimal classification errors. Dynamic gestures and
online training are the two most attractive features left for future.
Several new directions have been identified through which this work could be expanded in
the near future. The techniques developed are not specific to PSL, and so the system could
easily be adapted to other sign languages or for other gesture recognition systems (for
example, as part of a VR interface, telemetry or robotic control). It can be considered as a
step towards applications which provide user interface based on hand gestures.
One aspect of communication which could not be handled in Boltay Haath is two way
communication. Currently Boltay Haath can convey words from the signer to the listener and
not the other way around. One future enhancement would be to enable two way
communication.
The Boltay Haath system is now almost complete. Though many enhancements and
optimizations can be made to make it better. On the whole 83 gestures have been recognized.
This number can be increased as and when required by user.
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5. REFERENCES
[1] R.S Pressman, Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, Fourth Edition, McGraw-HILL
International, 1997
[2] Vesa-Matti, Mantyla, Jani Mantyjarvi, Tapio Seppanen, Esa tuulari. 2000, “Hand Gesture Recognition of a
mobile device user”, 2000 IEEE pp.281-284.
[3] Kadous, Waleed “GRASP: Recognition of Australian sign language using Instrumented gloves”, Australia,
October 1995,pp. 1-2,4-8.
[4] Murakami and Taguchi, “Gesture Recognition using Recurrent Neural Networks”. CHI ' Conference
91
Proceedings, pp.237--242. Human Interface Laboratory, Fujitsu Laboratories, ACM, 1991.
[5] Sulman Nasir, Sadaf Zuberi, “Pakistan Sign Language – A Synopsis“, Pakistan, June 2000.
[6] Simon Haykin, Neural networks: A Comprehensive Foundation, Second Edition, McMaster University, pp.
142.
[7] Peter W. Vamplew, Recognition of Sign Language Using Neural Networks, University of Tasmania, May
1996, Pp. 98
[8] Corradini, Andrea, Horst-Michael Gross. 2000, “A Hybrid Stochastic-Connectionist Architecture for
Gesture Reognition”, 2000 IEEE, 336-341.
[9] K.S. Fu, Syntactic Pattern Recognition, Prentice-Hall 1981, pp. 75-80
[10] Corradini, Andrea Horst-Michael Gross. 2000, “Camera-based Gesture Recognition for Robot Control”,
2000 IEEE, pp.133-138.
[11] Sommerville, I, Software Engineering (6th Ed.), published by: Addison Wesley, chap. 1, pp. 8.
[12] I., Wachsmuth, T. Sowa (Eds.), “Towards an Automatic Sign Language Recognition System using
Subunits”, London, April 2001, pp. 1-2
[13] Liskov, Barbara, Program Development in Java, chap 11, pp. 356.
[14] The Microsoft Speech Website, www.microsoft.com/speech
[15] Richard, Watson, “A survey of Gesture Recognition Techniques Technical Report”, Trinity College,
Dublin, July 1993, pp. 6
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