Senior high school students from Vinzons Pilot High School in Camarines Norte created a device that translates sign language. 

Their project won the Grand Award at the 2024 International Creativity and Innovation Award held at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok, Thailand.

The innovative device aims to facilitate communication for people with hearing and speech impairments.

Their project is a Raspberry Pi-based Translator Device, it can translate static sign language into text and speech, and performs speech into text translation.

The device is equipped with a camera, microphone, LCD screen, and remote controller. It operates without the need for internet connectivity.

It captures data from the user’s hand movements, processes it, and displays the translation on the screen.

"Ang pinaka nagging problema po naming yung hardware interface, kasi po most of the time di po siya nagfa-function ng maayos. So minsan po nagde-demonstrate po kami, [at] ang ginagamit po namin for demonstration ay isang laptop po," Lovely Mae Camonias, one of the students, said.

The device was later presented at the 2024 International Creativity and Innovation Award in Bangkok, where it earned the Titanium Award, followed by the Grand Award in the Innovation Award category.

The students hope their invention will aid individuals with disabilities significantly.

"I am confident enough po na makakatulong po ito sa mga parents na may anak na deaf, since we tested this device na nga po sa isang school na mayroong mga deaf students," Camonias said.

Besides aiding individuals with disabilities, the students also hope the device will benefit schools with special education programs.