A large percentage of India’s population can’t read or write in English. And 95 per cent content on the Internet is in English. Therefore, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) has come up with a solution for this lingual problem. It has developed an Indian language browser, called Darpan, which will facilitate browsing English web pages in Indian languages.
Presently, the institute has succeeded in developing a browser in Hindi and is close to develop one in Marathi. Browsers in other Indian languages will follow soon. CDAC’s Mumbai unit, which was earlier known as National Centre for Software Technology (NCST), has been doing some good work the field of computer education and research for several years.
CDAC had, on Saturday and Sunday, organised an open house for the public, where many of its achievements and research work were showcased.
Talking to DNA, executive director of CDAC, Zia Saquib said, “This browser is very innovative. So if you type in khoon, for example, then it will ask you whether you mean blood or murder. Once you clarify the meaning of the word, it will trawl the internet using Google, and display links that have been translated into Hindi.”
The institute is working on several similar programmes, like Hindi Moodle and MaTra2, which complement it, said Dr M Sasikumar, principal research scientist and in-charge of the R&D unit.
Another innovative programme that CDAC scientists and students are working on is Sashariri, an ‘open talking face’ or a ‘synthetic talking face’. Right now, when we watch dubbed animated movies, characters’ lip movements do not match the dialogues. “This will happen once Sashariri is fully developed. Currently, the synthetic voice and facial movements of an animated character looks and sounds very artificial but very soon it will look natural,” said RK Joshi, a senior scientist and consultant to the CDAC.
One interesting programme that has been developed by the Bangalore unit of CDAC, which was on display at the open house at Mumbai was - NATAK 3D.
“With the help of this programme, anybody can create an animated drama. All you need is a script. You can design your stage, pick props, chose characters, move them around and make them speak. This will enable any playwright or director to test his ideas even before the same are rehearsed by the actors,” said a senior CDAC scientist from Bangalore.
