Developed by the Siena-based company QuestIt in partnership with Turin's Regola, the first avatar capable of responding to emergency calls to 112 while using Italian Sign Language has arrived. When a deaf user dials 800 800 112 to report an emergency, they'll receive a link on their smartphone. This opens a virtual room where they can interact with the automated assistant. The avatar communicates entirely through sign language and interactive options displayed on the screen. It will recognize the emergency and activate the appropriate protocol, then connect the caller with a live operator.
According to ANSA: "The pilot is set to launch at the House of Emerging Technologies (Cte Next) in Turin, funded by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy. 'We believe that every digital service must be inclusive—technologically ready to support users in the language that best suits their needs,' says Ernesto Di Iorio, CEO of QuestIt. 'For this reason, we see innovation and inclusivity as two forces that must advance side by side.'"
The project emerged from a challenge posed by the City of Turin. Working with the regional emergency service NUE 112 in Piedmont, Turin offered Italian startups the chance to co-fund the initiative and pilot new solutions for improving sign-language communication during emergencies. "Turin has placed innovation at its center—understood as the testing of new solutions designed to improve quality of life," says Chiara Foglietta, Turin's assessor for ecological and digital transition, innovation, mobility, and transport. "Through CTE Next, we've decided to support real-world trials of technologies that deliver concrete results for our citizens, with special attention to people with disabilities. With QuestIT's avatar, we take another step forward in this direction."
On the importance of LIS, and more broadly on enabling deaf people to communicate freely, we devoted a focus to issue 142 in 2018. Read it here.