How often do you use Google Translate? I do quite often. It is so easy to go from one language to the other. But suppose you want to communicate with a deaf person, or you are deaf yourself. Then Google Translate is of no use, because deaf peope speak sign langue. There are 70 million deaf and hearing impaired people in the world, but there is so far no tool to translate a written language to a sign language. But this is about to change. Our guest this episode, Floris Roelofsen, is currently working on a project to develop an avatar that can speak sign language. We will talk about the importance of sign language, about how it differs from written languages and about how we can develop such an avatar.

— Tracklist —

1. Charles Writh & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself

2. BROCKBEATS - More Silence

3. SparkySynth - The Robots Are Talking

4. Rival Consoles - Vibrations On A String

Floris Roelofsen is associate professor at the University of Amsterdam. You can find out more about his research on his webpage: www.florisroelofsen.com.