Teaching Machines Sign Language: Can they understand you?

We will teach you some American Sign Language (ASL) signs for colors then you will see if our machine can recognize your signs. The RIT students who work at the NTID Research Center on Culture and Language have developed a sign language recognition program to be used in clinics to evaluate deaf peoples’ cognitive skills. This is important because most clinical neuropsychology assessment instruments are not designed for those who use a visual and signed language. This clinical test involves signing ASL color signs rapidly while there are distractors. These RIT students taught our machines how to recognize ASL color signs. Come to our exhibit and we will teach you some color signs. Then, you can sign to one of our laptops where you will see yourself on the screen. Our laptops will tell you if you signed the color correctly. We will work with you until you get the color signs right. Visitors who know ASL or want a more challenging task can take the ASL Stroop Test! This will involve watching color signs on the laptops and responding with the color of the signing avatar's arm, not the ASL color being signed. The avatar' arm would be Blue, Yellow, or Green! BONUS: We have temporary tattoos of RIT’s tiger, RITchie, signing tiger for children and adults.