This week, I managed to get the basic functionality of the randomly generated testing working. I have a Python program that can read images from a directory and create videos with it through OpenCV. I knew that it was very likely that this functionality is possible in Python, but it was good to see it working.
Over the next two days I want to refine the script in terms of range of possible inputs for the test. For example, I want to see what range of words I will deem “acceptable” as a part of the command for Google. In particular, I think the “what is?” command (not its own designated command, but a feature we plan on fully implementing) would be the hardest to execute correctly with good inputs. For example, we want to eliminate words like “it”, “she”, “her” – special words that hold no meaning in a “what is” context. It would be nice to include some proper nouns too. These are all just for interest and proof of concept (since no one will be actually using our product, we want to show that it is functional as a normal Google Home would be).
Another concern that came up is the spacing. After some thought, I think it would make sense to put some spacing of “white space” between gestures, as a normal person signing would be. Someone who actually signs in real life will probably do one letter then switch to the next one in less than a second. This spacing could be important – this will help us distinguish repeating letters. I didn’t think of this before, but now that I have I think I will put some randomly timed breaks where the video is just blank (need to explore that in the next few days as well) to imitate that. This could great improve our accuracy and simulation of a real-world situation.