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Capture. Sign. Translate. How?

  • Writer: Grace Covey
    Grace Covey
  • Jun 10, 2025
  • 2 min read

Updated: Sep 2, 2025

🖐️ How We Use Motion Capture to Build Our Sign Language Library 

At Kara Technologies, we’re enabling digital humans who sign - fluently, naturally, and with cultural meaning. Our signs aren't AI-generated or created by hearing teams. Every sign comes from a native Deaf signer, captured using motion capture. 

This process is our koha - a gift from the Deaf community to the digital world. 

 

🎥 What Is Motion Capture? 

Motion capture (or MoCap) is a technology used to record real human movement using special suits and cameras. It’s the same tech used in movies to bring superheroes to life. 

At Kara, we use it to bring real-life signing into the digital space - making sign language accessible for public messages, education, and more.  

🔑 Why It Comes First 

Before we can animate or translate anything, we need the signs. That’s why MoCap is our first and most important step. 

It’s how we make sure every sign is: 

  • Accurate 

  • Fluent 

  • Culturally grounded  


🛠️ How It Works (In 5 Steps) 

1. Recording Each Sign 

We build a full sign language dictionary - core signs, fingerspelling, facial grammar - captured one sign at a time by Deaf signers using ASL, NZSL, Auslan and others.  

2. Studio & Equipment 

Our MoCap studio includes full-body suits, hand sensors, and facial cameras to capture every detail of each sign.  

3. Guided Sessions 

Signers work with a MoCap director and Deaf language expert to guide and review each take, to ensure we record the most accurate representation of each sign.  

4. Animation & Clean-Up 

We map the movement from MoCap onto 3D digital humans and polish the results for clarity and smoothness.  

5. Deaf-Led Review 

Every sign is reviewed by our internal Deaf QA team before it’s added to our system.   


💬 Why It Matters 

We’re not replacing interpreters. We know how valuable they are. 

Kara Auto Translate (KAT), our automatic sign language tool, is designed to support accessibility when an interpreter isn’t available, like during emergencies, late-night alerts, or digital experiences that need to scale.  


Thanks to MoCap, we can offer: 

  • 24/7 signed content 

  • Accurate, expressive visuals 

  • Support for multiple sign languages 

All built by Deaf people. For Deaf people. 

 

🚀 What’s Next? 

We’re working on: 

  • Expanding our sign libraries 

  • Enhancing facial animation 

  • Speeding up our processes 

  • Making smarter AI tools - with Deaf feedback every step of the way 

 

🔗 Stay Connected 

Visit us at kara.tech📱 Follow us on LinkedIn & Facebook 

The future is signed, accessible, and Deaf-led.  

By the Deaf. With the Deaf. For the Deaf. 


TL;DR 

At Kara, we use motion capture (MoCap) to build a digital library of sign language,led by Deaf people, for Deaf people. Every sign is recorded by a native signer, cleaned, reviewed, and animated into a 3D digital human. This library powers our KAT system, helping fill accessibility gaps where interpreters aren’t available - like emergency alerts or digital platforms. It’s not AI guesswork - it’s real language, captured with care. 

 

 
 
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