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Giving voice to the voiceless

Bangladesh-born Canadian computer engineer makes device that helps mute people to communicate

Belal Hossain Biplob
Tarik Sayeed at a grocery shop in his hometown Penticton, Canada, two years ago saw a young lady ask a salesman for something through gestures.
The salesman could not understand what she wanted and so was repeatedly asking her questions. At one point, the lady who was unable to speak left the shop without buying anything, with tears in her eyes.
That very brief moment prompted the Bangladesh-born Canadian computer engineer to think of how to ease the communication of the world's 350 million mute and deaf people with others, and after putting much effort along with two other software engineers from Bangladesh he came up with a device that is now on trial and error checking.
The device, a small, silver and three-inch rectangle, translates hand gestures into text and voice.
"The deaf population is struggling to communicate with the real world, and this device, we are hoping, will change their everyday life,” said 36-year-old Tarik.
Back then, there was a device in the market, Leap Motion, analogous to a mouse, which receives hand and finger motions as inputs without any touch.
Tarik thought of making software for Leap Motion sensors that would translate hand gestures into text and voice.
He then launched his own company Baby Taxi in Canada and engaged Syed Sabbir and Tanveer Ahmed in the initiative. Sabbir and Tanveer worked from Bangladesh to develop an algorithm based on American Sign
Language (ASL).
The software, named ASL-360, is designed to translate hand, finger motions of a deaf or mute person into spoken words and readable text and then get the responses back to him in text and video forms, Tarik said, explaining the functioning of the equipment. The outputs can be displayed or played on laptops, smartphones and tablets.
Almost ready to launch, the software is now going through trial and error checking, and further adoption of sign languages. The device costs about $100.
The efforts of Baby Taxi have already drawn support from the deaf community and a couple of high tech firms and a potential investor from the Silicon Valley.
In the first phase, Baby Taxi aims at making the device available to 33
million North-American deaf and mute people.
"After the successful completion of our first project, we will start working for the European and Chinese deaf and mute communities," said Tarik, who has held several leadership roles in information technology at companies such as JumpTV, Comcast, and First West Credit Union.
He was nominated for IT Manager of the Year in 2011 in Canada. Tarik said he also wanted to help Bangladeshis facing similar challenges. But it is quite difficult, as there is no established form of sign language in the country.
Besides, marketing of such a device here is a big challenge and requires assistance from government and nongovernment organisations working with the mute and deaf community, he added.