3D Hubs
3D Hubs robotic hand
The Project Aslan team with its 3D printed robotic hand, able to converse in sign language.
Engineers from the University of Antwerp in Belgium are to see their sign language-conversing robotic arm mass produced by 3D printing service network, 3D Hubs.
Additive techniques have been selected to make the humanoid robot more affordable and easily manufacturable. The concept was developed within the European Institute for Otorhinolaryngology-sponsored Project Aslan, which brought together Guy Fierens, Stijn Huys and Jasper Slaets.
The trio are masters’ students and got to work on the robotic arm to support the deaf community. Noticing the communication gap between hearers and non-hearers, the Project Aslan team decided to harness modern technologies to provide a solution bridge the gap and connect the two communities in a seamless, contemporary way.
“I was talking to friends about the shortage of sign language interpreters in Beligum, especially in Flanders for the Flemish sign language,” explained Stijn Huys of how project begun. “We wanted to do something about it. I also wanted to work on robotics for my masters, so we combined the two.”
“Developing a reliable and versatile robotic arm makes this an interesting challenge,” adds Erwin Smet, a robotics teacher who helped the trio complete Project Aslan. “A deaf person who needs to appear in court, a deaf person following a lesson in a classroom somewhere – these are all circumstances where a deaf person needs a sign language interpreter, but where often such an interpreter is not readily available. This is where a low-cost option, like Aslan can offer a solution.”
Aslan is named and abbreviated from Antwerp’s Sign Language Actuating Node. It is in its first iteration, three years on from the project’s outset. It is had influences from other University of Antwerp students, as well as Smet and an ENT surgeon.
3D Hubs
3D Hubs robotic hand
The first prototype featured 25 PLA 3D printed parts on a desktop platform, taking 139 hours to print in total. Complementing the 25 3D printed parts were 16 servo motors, three motor controllers, an Arduino Due, and multiple other components. All told, to assemble the entire robotic arm, it takes 10 hours.
Now, the group has aligned with 3D Hubs with a view of distributing the Aslan robot across the world. Users of the Aslan will benefit from the device’s connection to a local network which keeps the robot up to date with the latest developments in sign languages from all over the world. It communicates with the help of a human user inputting messages via the network – it then activates its hand, elbow and finger joints to deliver the messages in sign language.
The Project Aslan team highlights that they don’t wish to replace human sign language translators, but to instead provide support when they are not available. With just the design to be optimised, the masters’ students believe the robot arm will not only be available to stand in for absent sign language translators but also solve a root issue. This concerns the shortage of sign language courses – the Aslan robot, the team is confident, could be brought into a classroom for a standard teacher to deliver messages via the robot.
Next, incoming masters’ students will conduct four new research topics emanating from this Aslan Project. Two of them will look into design optimisation, a two-arm set-up is being explored; another will focus on facial expressions; while the fourth will investigate whether or not a webcam can be used to manually teach new gestures to the robot. After the completion of these research projects, and once the mechanical design and software of the robot have reached a sufficiently advanced level, all designs will be made open source.
