Graduate turns sign language into words

Durban — The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s graduation season has officially begun.

At least 8 000 students will be capped in 16 ceremonies over the next two weeks. UKZN says the graduations will take place at its Westville campus from May 6-14.

The Independent on Saturday caught up with several of the students who completed unusual projects or theses as part of their studies.

One of them is Dylan Govender from Phoenix, who will graduate with a BSc Honours Electronic Engineering on Wednesday.

For his year-end project Govender manufactured a cost-effective ‘sign language-to-speech’ glove which works through a computer.

He said the glove was placed on a hand and connected to a PC. When sign language gestures were made, the PC would say the word.

He said students had been given several options of what to develop and he thought this was the most interesting.

Sign language was recognised as South Africa’s 12th official language last year.

“It’s like solving a real-life problem where it can assist those who don’t understand sign language and it is a big thing in the world.

“There are hundreds of thousands who don’t understand sign language yet, not just in South Africa, but globally. So, obviously, there are solutions out there, but this is just a prototype using my approach.”

Another reason he opted for this project was because of his interest in embedded systems, coupled with a desire to merge hardware and software elements to address real-world needs.

Govender told the Independent on Saturday that he opted to go for a sensor rather than camera-based model because he was more comfortable with the components and the electronic side of developing the glove.

The glove incorporates flex sensors, a micro controller and a meticulously crafted code, functioning across three primary phases: gesture detection, serial communication and integration with a Google text-to-speech algorithm.

For this project he had to work with a budget of R1 600 but Govender said similar systems already on the market could cost R20 000 and more.

Govender said he only had three months to complete the project and because of this it only focused on the use of one hand.

“But it could have been done on two hands and it can be further modified for a Master’s project.

“On two hands, it would obviously be able to produce more words, more sentences, and just a whole variety of the language itself.”

He said the project could even be scaled up for a business venture, but for now he has other things on his plate. The 22-year-old is currently working at PSG Wealth for a year after they awarded him a student scholarship.

The work is a far cry from his electronic engineering studies and he said it was indicative of his wide-ranging interests, including cybersecurity as well as forex and cryptocurrency trading. During his undergraduate years, he was actively involved in Tech Society UKZN, Enactus, Engineers without Borders, and served as a Supplementary Instruction leader and practical demonstrator for physics.

He excelled academically, picking up several merit awards and Dean’s commendations and was invited to join the Golden Key International Honour Society. He also teaches trading though his company, Kirabo Trading, and is a member of the South African National Blockchain Alliance.

Independent on Saturday