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📄 Research Article

Using the Pepper Robot to Support Sign Language Communication

◐ medium · 2026-08-13social-robots, sign-language, inclusive-education, human-robot-interaction, accessibility, special-education

Synthesis: Bolla et al. (2025) investigate whether the commercial Pepper social robot can produce intelligible Italian Sign Language (LIS) signs and short signed sentences, addressing the underexplored accessibility of social robots for Deaf users. With the help of a Deaf student and an expert interpreter, they co-designed and implemented 52 LIS signs on Pepper using either manual animation techniques or a MATLAB-based inverse kinematics solver. An exploratory user study with 12 participants proficient in LIS (both Deaf and hearing) assessed the intelligibility of the robot's signs.

Key Findings

  • Social robots are increasingly used in public and assistive settings, but their accessibility for Deaf users remains underexplored.
  • Italian Sign Language (LIS) is a fully-fledged natural language with complex manual and non-manual components, posing a challenge for robot communication.
  • The team co-designed and implemented 52 LIS signs on Pepper using manual animation techniques or a MATLAB-based inverse kinematics solver.
  • An exploratory user study with 12 participants proficient in LIS (Deaf and hearing) assessed sign intelligibility, with the aim of fostering more inclusive human-robot interaction in social environments (hospitals, airports, educational settings).

    • Study Design & Method

    This is an exploratory design and user-study in human-robot interaction. The researchers co-designed 52 Italian Sign Language signs with a Deaf student and an expert interpreter, implementing them on the Pepper platform using two techniques (manual animation and MATLAB-based inverse kinematics). An exploratory user study with 12 LIS-proficient participants (both Deaf and hearing) evaluated the intelligibility of the produced signs and short signed sentences, examining the feasibility of robot-mediated sign-language communication.

    Implications for AI in Education

    The work extends Social Robots into Equity In AI Education by exploring robots' capacity to communicate in Special Education, which could foster more inclusive human-robot interaction in educational settings and support Deaf learners. It connects to Human Robot Interaction, Accessible Learning, and Special Education, highlighting both the potential and the technical challenges of enabling robots to produce intelligible sign language. For educators, it points toward socially assistive robots as tools for inclusive classrooms, while underscoring the need for co-design with Deaf communities.

    Limitations

    The user study was exploratory with a small sample (12 participants), and the intelligibility of robot-produced LIS was partial and context-dependent. The technical implementation (52 signs) covers a limited vocabulary, and the non-manual components of LIS (facial expression, body posture) that are crucial to meaning were challenging for the robot to reproduce. Findings are specific to the Pepper platform and Italian Sign Language.

    Connected Concepts

  • Social Robots
  • Human Robot Interaction
  • Special Education
  • Equity In AI Education
  • Special Education
  • Accessible Learning

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    • Citation

    Bolla, G., Bolla, M., Gena, C., Mazzei, A., Donini, M., & Lillo, A. (2025). Using the Pepper robot to support sign language communication. arXiv:2509.09889.