Kenyan Startup Builds Robotic Sign Language Interpreter — and the African Dataset to Train It

Kenyan computer scientist Norah Kimathi has built a robotic system that translates a teacher’s spoken words into sign language in real time — and, alongside it, a database of African sign languages to train the models that make it work. Kimathi, 22, co-founded ZeroBionic in 2023 and completed her BSc in Computer Science at Strathmore University in July 2026. How it works The system captures a teacher’s speech, processes it through an AI engine, and renders it as sign language through a multi-joi