ISL Translate established a fully functional Irish Sign Language (ISL) machine translation (MT) system, leveraging avatar technology to translate a constrained set of English sentences into ISL.
While natural language processing and machine translation have rapidly advanced for spoken and written languages, sign languages have historically been excluded from these technologies. ISL Translate addressed this gap, improving accessibility for the estimated 72 million deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals worldwide and supporting under-resourced languages.
ISL Translate successfully created an ISL avatar capable of producing synthetic sign language and demonstrated potential applications in public services (e.g., railway stations, airports, ATMs), governmental communications, and corporate accessibility initiatives.
The Key objectives for ISL Translate are:
1.Developing an ISL lexicon and avatar capable of generating accurate synthetic sign language.
2.Implementing a machine translation system linking English input to the avatar output, producing real-time ISL translations.
3. Advancing assistive technology use.
Expected Impact
1.Societal Impact: Empowers deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals by enhancing access to information and services in their native language.
2.Educational and Accessibility Benefits: Supports public-facing services, institutions, and educational platforms in delivering information in ISL.
3.Commercial Potential: Provides adoption opportunities for public bodies, financial institutions, and corporate organisations.
