Bridging Worlds Through Indian Sign Language
Ishaara is dedicated to making communication truly two-way. By combining real-time computer vision and 3D digital avatars, we bring Indian Sign Language into everyday conversations, classrooms, and public services.
Team VNRR · Mumbai, India
Rehan, Vivek, Nishikant, and Rohit
Our Purpose & Direction
Built from the ground up to solve real accessibility challenges in India.
Make Indian Sign Language Part of Everyday Life
We create intuitive, zero-cost digital tools that bridge the communication gap between Deaf and hearing individuals. Our goal is to eliminate hardware barriers by enabling browser-based translation that operates reliably on standard phones and computers.
- Zero hardware requirement — runs in any modern browser
- Two-way translation: Text to Sign & Sign to Text
- 100% private, on-device computation
Universal Digital Accessibility Across India
We envision an India where public transport counters, hospitals, bank branches, and online services automatically support Indian Sign Language alongside spoken languages, empowering the Deaf community with complete independence.
- Integration into public service counters and civic portals
- Continuous expansion of the Indian Sign Language vocabulary
- Open accessibility tools for schools and universities
How Ishaara Works
A simple, privacy-focused pipeline designed for real-time two-way communication.
1. Input Capture
Whether you speak, type text, or demonstrate a sign gesture via your camera, Ishaara captures the input locally without uploading media to external servers.
2. AI Translation
Our language model maps grammatical structure, lemmas, and syntax between spoken Indian languages and ISL gesture sequences in milliseconds.
3. Real-Time 3D Synthesis
The 3D digital avatar animates handshapes, facial expressions, and body orientation smoothly in real-time, providing natural visual communication.
Addressing India's Sign Language Accessibility Need
India is home to an estimated 18 million Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, yet fewer than 300 certified Indian Sign Language interpreters are available nationwide. This shortage creates daily barriers at clinics, banks, railway counters, and government offices.
Ishaara began with our Sign2Text initiative, where we collected and labeled over 35,000 hand gesture images to build client-side camera recognition. That foundation unlocked Text2Sign, our primary focus today: rendering authentic 3D avatars directly in web applications to make information visually accessible for all.
18M+
Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing in India
Representing the largest community of sign language users in the country.
< 300
Certified Interpreters
Severe national shortage highlighting the urgent necessity for accessible digital tools.
35,000+
Annotated Sign Frames
Curated and trained across multiple lighting conditions and angles for gesture recognition.
100%
Private & Client-Side
Operates without transmitting private video frames to third-party cloud servers.
The Builders Behind Ishaara
Developed by four computer engineering students united by a mission to make technology accessible to everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Experience Ishaara First-Hand
Explore our live 3D avatar translator or connect with our team to bring sign language accessibility to your organization.