For the capstone I finally decided to do a hardware project. I was inspired by this blog post which I had read some months back. Please watch the videos in it, they are quite entertaining:
http://www.andrespagella.com/important-gestures-public-speaking

After reading that article I sorta fell in love with Italian hand gestures. They are so expressive, and I love the fact that the gestures themselves form a language. For this project I want to create a piece that will make learning these beautiful gestures easy and interactive.

As a source I plan on using Speak Italian: The Fine Art of Gesture (http://www.amazon.com/Speak-Italian-The-Fine-Gesture/dp/0811847748/?tag=braipick-20).

My goal is to translate gestures into animatronic hands. There are several instructables on how to make these. (http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Animatronics-robotic-hand/)

At the end of the day I want users to speak some word or words in English and have them spoken back with an Italian accent and the appropriate hand gestures.

Robotic hands are nothing new. And neither is the concept of having them gesture. (See video below) The interesting part of this project will  be the fact that I am reinterpreting Bruno Murani’s book in a very physical way.