Three Stellenbosch University (SU) students recently won first place in a national competition for their sign language translator app.
This is according to Vutivi Makubela, a final-year BSc (Computer Science) student at SU and High Five team member, who won the Standard Bank UniHack competition hosted in Cape Town from 2 to 3 April.
Developed along with two University of Western Cape (UWC) students, the team’s app, Handy, translates sign language into text, according to Justin Dietrich, a fourth-year BEng (Electrical and Electronic Data Engineering ) student at SU and member of the team, in correspondence with SMF News.
Dietrich said that they were challenged to develop technology that could address one of three core areas: inclusive education in South Africa, community upliftment, or mental health challenges.
Dietrich and Makubela were joined by Bailey Mc Jarrow, a third-year BSc (Computer Science) student at SU, Oluphi Vukaphi a fourth-year BSc (Computer Science) student at UWC, and Nabeelah Khan, a BComHons (Information Systems) student from UWC.
Standard Bank invited High Five to join their ‘idea continuation’ team, where they will explore the project in more depth and potentially provide support and resources to develop it into a real product, according to Mc Jarrow.
Vutivi Celencia Makubela, a final-year BSc (Computer Science) student at Stellenbosch University, demonstrating how the Handy app works. According to Makubela, the app, Handy, which won first prize in the recent UniHack competition, uses a video camera to translate sign language into text. PHOTO: Aubrey Phungo
Vukaphi said that Dietrich already had an idea for the app, in the field of inclusive education, and presented the idea for Handy to the team.
“The inspiration came from a personal experience,” said Dietrich. “My family had visited an orphanage for children with disabilities, where we noticed a significant communication barrier. Some of the children were deaf, and there were not any social workers or educators who could communicate with them effectively through sign language.”
An open browser illustrating how the Handy app, which recently won first place in UniHack competition, works. The left side shows a video where it does the translation of the sign to text, and on the right side the speech is translated to text. PHOTO: Aubrey Phungo
Victory as a first step to the future
Khan said that the team built a meaningful app that creates a solution in sign language communication, as it removes communication barriers for the deaf community.
“We combined technical skill with human-centred thinking,” said Khan. “Each person had a unique contribution, ranging from a strong mix of technical and soft skills, which definitely set us apart from the other groups.”
Makubela said that winning the competition made him realize the value of bringing creativity and user experience into innovation, something he would definitely want to pursue further.
“Winning the hackathon gave me a huge confidence boost and showed me that even non-technical contributions, like design and branding, can be just as impactful in a tech-driven project,” said Makubela.
Vutivi Celencia Makubela, a final-year BSc (Computer Science) student at Stellenbosch University and one of the five Handy app developers, opened the app on a mobile phone to display how it works. PHOTO: Aubrey Phungo