A Motion Capture System for Sign Language Synthesis: Overview and Related Issues

HANDY [1] is a project for the synthesis of articulatory sign-language as used by the deaf. This paper describes a sub-project named HANDYCap, which is used as a prior stage to the actual sign-language synthesis. HANDYCap is a low-cost hand-motion capture and data-processing system which we use to enable semi-automatic construction of the sign database. Additionally, the paper gives a broad survey of the technical and linguistic issues relating to the signing task. The optical tracking system used for motion-capture is described, together with related issues. In performing the database-construction task it is necessary to pay attention to the linguistic background, as well as to the problems of loading and storing the data efficiently and correctly.