In the DeafBlind community (people who cannot hear or see), only 10 percent are able to communicate through traditional braille, which first requires knowledge of a primary spoken language like English. Most DeafBlind people depend on tactile sign language – holding onto the hand of their communication partner – to talk with others, leaving them totally isolated when interpreters are unavailable. Boston startup Tatum Robotics is developing a humanoid robotic hand (the “Tatum T1”) that is able to translate speech or text into tactile sign language.
In this episode, Jon chats with Tatum Robotics founder Samantha Johnson, who explains her company’s mission to provide tabletop robotic hand interpreters for DeafBlind people, delivering the first technology supporting their communication independence. Samantha shares both the hardware and software challenges of creating a tactile signing robot – and reveals she’s been “getting more hugs than she’s ever received” for helping improve people’s quality of life.