Latest Health research news from the around the globe: MIT students design portable Braille label maker

MIT students design portable Braille label maker
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admin on 28 September, 2009 04:16:00
 
They came up with a prototype device, called the 6dot Braille Labelmaker, that
is small and easily portable, can produce the entire panoply of possible Braille
characters (including commonly used two-character contractions), and can be
relatively easily loaded and operated by touch. Although it is still under
development, they hope it can ultimately be produced for sale at around $200.
Why it matters: One everyday problem for people who are blind or have very
limited sight is distinguishing things that are completely identical to the
sense of touch, such as different CDs and DVDs, or canned goods that are all the
same size and shape. To cope with that difficulty, many people make Braille
labels to attach to these items. But the existing devices for doing this are
either expensive and heavy - one costs about $650 and has limited portability-
or light and inexpensive but very difficult for a blind person to operate, and
limited in the number of characters they can imprint.
How they did it: A team led by Karina Pikhart (who graduated last June with a
bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering) developed the battery-operated 6dot
device, which uses standard Dymo label tape, and has a built-in microprocessor
that can store up to 16 characters in case the user types faster than the device
can emboss the tape. It has six buttons across the top - one for each of the six
dots in that make up a Braille character - that can be operated by placing two
hands on the unit's top, very much like touch-typing. The device makes sounds as
it embosses each character, providing some auditory feedback to confirm that
it's working. When the label is finished, the user activates a built-in blade to
cut the label off.
Next steps: Ultimately, they plan to add another blade that will score the end
of the tape to make it easier to peel off the backing, but that has proved more
difficult to achieve than they had anticipated. They're also working on
simplifying the system for loading and unloading a roll of tape to make that
easier to do by touch.
Source: http://braillelabeler.net/index.html