CESAR and Lenovo Featured in A.I. Academy Stage Keynote at Web Summit Rio

CESAR’s five-year collaboration with Lenovo to design and develop a real-time sign-language translator for hearing people powered by A.I. showcases Brazil’s vast innovation potential.

RIO DE JANEIRO and RECIFE, BRAZIL – April 16, 2024 – CESAR, the world-renowned innovation hub headquartered in Porto Digital, and Lenovo will discuss and demo a first-of-its-kind innovation on the opening day of Web Summit Rio 2024 at 3:45pm on the A.I. Academy Stage. Following five years of co-development, the real-time sign-language translator for hearing people powered by A.I. will “foster active participation of deaf individuals as communicators rather than just recipients;  breaking down existing barriers and promoting a more inclusive society,” per Forbes magazine.

The translator’s proprietary A.I. technology is capable of visually identifying and contextualizing individual gestures through a dataset of thousands of LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language) videos. The new A.I. system captures signing movements and transforms them into text and audio messages in Portuguese in real time. Instead of translating each sign individually, the A.I .and its accompanying database focus on discerning hand shapes by analyzing hand contours and, crucially, the digital pivot points of the signer’s skeleton and their facial expressions. 

The RD&I initiative by CESAR and Lenovo is a world-first, with potential for universal application and an example of Lenovo’s quest to develop “A.I. for All”.

“This long-time collaboration with Lenovo is a great example of the type of RD&I projects we work on at CESAR that include numerous advanced technologies’ expertise, mixed with our highly skilled research, design and project management prowess,” said Lauro Elias Neto, Executive Director for CESAR. “Our goal has always been to bring cutting-edge innovation to our partners and significantly contribute to improving and innovating products and services through technology. Uniting this purpose with the cause of inclusion makes us even more proud to be featured at Web Summit Rio.”

More than 2.3 million Brazilians face communication difficulties due to profound deafness and use the Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) and the Portuguese Sign Language (LGP), alongside several regional sign dialects. The scale and complexity of the challenge prompted the five-year research and development project, funded by Lenovo. Worldwide, this number grows to 430 million people who have moderate or severe hearing loss in the ear with better hearing, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“I’m honored to be part of this inspiring project. As part of Lenovo’s vision to offer smart technology to everyone, this new A.I. solution fills existing communication gaps, as well as enhancing its use to accelerate LIBRAS learning by using computer vision to track the accuracy of gestures and ‘instruct’ users to make specific adjustments,” said  Hildebrando Lima, R&D Director at Lenovo.

Based on deep learning neural networks, the system’s architecture is similar to models such as GPT-3 for translation and recognition of Portuguese to Libras, facilitating real-time sign language translation. For the generation of sign language videos, the organizations created a synthetic interpreter (a human-like virtual avatar) using Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) models.

“A team of 80 people including five hearing-impaired professionals worked on the project to ensure we had direct input from the community the real-time sign language translator will be serving,” said Vitor Casadei, the data science manager at CESAR who co-led the initiative. “The purpose of this project goes far beyond offering a new service. We understand the importance of accessibility and inclusion and, together with Lenovo, we seek to develop something with an impact on society.”

The real-time sign-language translator co-developed by CESAR and Lenovo was recognized as a finalist in the A.I. category for the 2024 SXSW Tech Innovation Awards earlier this year. 

CESAR has more than 1,100 experts in architecture, coding, design, program management and research – among other disciplines – who work with customers and partners every step of the way from conception, to testing and iteration, to design and development to create first-of-their kind applications, products and services that have never existed before.

“Some people believe there is an inherent trade-off between excellent tech development skills and creativity, but this is a false dichotomy because you can have both,” said Neto. “Combining technical prowess with creativity is in our DNA at CESAR.”

Editorial note: CESAR will be located at booth E316 in Pavilion 3 during Web Summit Rio 2024 and will be hosting an A.I. Masterclass on another real-world RD&I collaboration with Petrobras and Nvidia using advanced technologies including A.I., high-performance computing (HPC) and quantum computing on Wednesday, April 17 at 11:30am in the conference rooms in Pavilion 6.

About CESAR

CESAR is the most complete innovation and knowledge center in Brazil. It has designed and developed innovative solutions with cutting-edge technology for more than 27 years, working together with more than 100 large companies in Brazil and around the world, in addition to serving more than 500 startups. Headquartered in Recife, in the heart of Porto Digital – one of the main technology parks in Latin America, it operates in an integrated manner with education, business acceleration and technology to elevate organizations to new levels of competitiveness. It is a non-profit institution dedicated to training and positively impacting people, startups and global companies, and strengthening their digital strategies. Its innovation school, CESAR School, prepares students and professionals for the challenges of a constantly evolving market. In 2023, the center also expanded its business to Europe, with headquarters in Aveiro, Portugal.