MAR2S: mão robótica representativa de sinais para auxiliar no aprendizado de LIBRAS

Abstract

The Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) is the second official Brazilian language and it is used in the communication of people with hearing impairment in the Brazilian territory. However, hearing-impaired people, like other minorities, might be seen as inferiors, which makes a wider diffusion of LIBRAS necessary in order to obtain a bigger recognition of the deaf community and culture. This work aims the development of a robotic hand that is able to represent the handshapes of a sign in LIBRAS from written words in the Portuguese Language. A graphical interface was included, providing access to Portuguese Language users without any technical knowledge in coding. The robotic hand was built using 3D printing and its movements are controlled by servomotors connected to a Raspberry Pi. It is noted, however, that the used robotic hand model has restrictions on movement, which causes a limitation on the number of signs that the hand is able to reproduce. Finally, the hand-worked as expected and shows itself as an interesting possibility to stimulate the introductory teaching of LIBRAS.