There are over 600 million people who have hearing disabilities, and for them, communication with society at large can sometimes be difficult. Mohamed Elwazer, founder and CEO of KinTrans, wants to change all that. The team at KinTrans has devised a system that reads sign language using a connect motion sensor, and translates the signs in real time into voice and text.
KinTrans has the potential to open a new world of communication for the hearing impaired. If installed in public places, KinTrans will allow signers to communicate with people at hospitals, shopping malls, airports and truly integrate with society in their daily lives. Founded in 2013, KinTrans has already acquired funding from investors, including Dubai-based accelerator TURN8, and is now pursuing its next round of funding between $2-3 million for scaling production and market penetration, with the hopes of creating a mobile application down the line.
The system is a personal project for the team at KinTrans. “In 2005, I saw a teenager at a metro station in Cairo struggling to tell the police officer something in sign language, but the officer couldn’t understand him. I couldn’t do anything to help him either,” Elwazer told BarakaBits. The scene inspired him to later create a system to help the hearing impaired. KinTrans CBDO, Mahmoud Elfouly, is also a founder of a disability association in Egypt, and their business advisor Catherine Bently works closely with hearing impaired businesses.
Check out the video above to watch KinTrans in action. The system is truly unparalleled in its ability to visually record the smallest hand movements. KinTrans is not just a technological innovation; it is also, at heart, a product that serves the community. And that’s #PeopleHelpingPeople.
For more information: KinTrans Facebook Page