When college instructor Angela Dancey wants to decipher whether her first-year English students comprehend what she's trying to get across in class, their facial expressions and body language don't reveal much. "Even in an in-person class, students can be difficult to read. Typically, undergraduates don't communicate much through their faces, especially a lack of understanding," said Dancey, a senior lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago. Dancey uses tried-and-true methods such as asking students to identify their "muddiest point" -- a concept or idea she said students still struggle with -- following a lecture or discussion. "I ask them to write it down, share it and we address it as a class for everyone's benefit," she said.

A robotic hand that can translate words into sign language gestures for deaf people has been created by scientists. Named Project Aslan, the 3D-printed hand costs as little as £400 ($560) to make and interprets both written text and spoken words. The device communicates through'fingerspelling', a type of sign language where words are spelled out letter-by-letter through separate gestures on a single hand. The robot, which will be ready in five years, could one day be carried around in a rucksack, scientists say. It could help some of the 70 million worldwide who are deaf or hard of hearing to communicate with people who don't know sign language.

While we usually see robotics applied to industrial or research applications, there are plenty of ways they could help in everyday life as well: an autonomous guide for blind people, for instance, or a kitchen bot that helps disabled folks cook. Or -- and this one is real -- a robot arm that can perform rudimentary sign language. It's part of a masters thesis from grad students at the University of Antwerp who wanted to address the needs of the deaf and hearing impaired. In classrooms, courts and at home, these people often need interpreters -- who aren't always available. Their solution is "Antwerp's Sign Language Actuating Node," or ASLAN. It's a robotic hand and forearm that can perform sign language letters and numbers.