DARPA is building a universal translator like Reed Richards. I am actually glad to hear about this announcement, because the current handheld language translators that are available to the public suck. I know that this device will do what it claims to do.###
Raytheon BBN Technologies Awarded Defense Funding to Advance Automatic Translation
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 7, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Raytheon Company's (NYSE: RTN) BBN Technologies has been awarded an additional $6.14 million in funding by DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) under the Multilingual Automatic Document Classification, Analysis and Translation (MADCAT) program. This award follows Raytheon BBN's success in meeting required milestones during the first two years of the MADCAT program.
The MADCAT program's goal is to create a prototype system that quickly provides accurate, relevant, distilled, actionable information to military commands and personnel. It does this by converting foreign language text images, such as road signs, flyers, photographs, and handwritten notes, into English transcripts automatically, without the use of linguists and analysts.
Prem Natarajan, head of speech and language processing, Raytheon BBN Technologies, said: "Foreign language translation on the battlefield is slow, dangerous and expensive. The MADCAT system will help our troops understand road signs, print media and captured documents that could be of immediate importance to their safety and to the successful completion of their missions."
Under the contract, Raytheon BBN Technologies will further refine a prototype translation system developed under previous awards in this program that can be deployed on a laptop computer. To accomplish this, Raytheon BBN Technologies is integrating optical character recognition with its state-of-the-art translation and distillation techniques and developing novel methods to process handwritten text.
Raytheon BBN Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon Company.
Raytheon Company, with 2009 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 88 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 75,000 people worldwide.
Joyce Kuzmin
Raytheon BBN Technologies
617.873.8120
jkuzmin@bbn.com
SOURCE Raytheon Company
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