[Home-on-the-range] FW: [nfbcs] Braille on the iPad
Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO
susan.stanzel at kcc.usda.gov
Fri Oct 14 12:43:39 UTC 2011
Hi Everyone,
I got this from the computer science list. It is really a fantastic glimpse into the future.
Susie
-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Fred Wurtzel
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:37 PM
To: 'NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List'; NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
Cc: 'Mike Ellis'; mikeeellis at comcast.net
Subject: [nfbcs] Braille on the iPad
This is not simply connecting a Braille display or keypad, it is Braille
directly through the touch screen. This sounds pretty cool.
_next article
Tablets turned into Braille keyboard by US researchers
Man reading Braille Braille can seem outdated in a world where
touchscreens are ubiquitous
A team of US researchers has devised a way for people with impaired
vision to use the touchscreen of a tablet such as an iPad as a Braille
keyboard.
It turns some previously fundamental thinking about how to make
technology accessible to blind people on its head.
Instead of using a keyboard or mechanical writer, users type directly
onto the flat glass.
The inventors used a novel design for the keyboard to overcome the lack
of tactile features.
Smart keyboard
"Instead of having fingers that find the buttons, we built buttons that
find the fingers," said Stanford's Sohan Dharmaraja, one of the
researchers on the project.
Mr Dharmaraja using iPad with Braille software The software creates a
smart keyboard for users
Users place eight fingers on the screen and the keyboard appears.
Shaking the device activates a menu, and further interaction is
achieved by regular touch gestures.
Mr Dharmaraja, alongside team-mates Adam Duran - an undergraduate from
New Mexico University - and assistant professor Adrian Lew, came up
with the idea during a boffin's X-Factor-style contest.
The competition, organised each year by Stanford University, challenges
students to come up with some innovative future computing ideas over
their summer break.
In demonstrations Mr Duran typed out a complicated mathematical formula
and the chemical equation for photosynthesis.
But it also offers a solution for more basic problems.
"Imagine being blind in the classroom, how would you take notes? What
if you were on the street and needed to copy down a phone number? These
are real challenges the blind grapple with every day," said Prof Lew.
There are some obvious benefits to using touchscreen technology over
traditional Braille writers.
"Current physical note takers are big and clunky and range from $3,000
(£2,000) to $6,000 (£4,000). Tablet PCs are available at a fraction of
the cost and do so much more," said Mr Dharmaraja.
Promising development
As part of the project, the students had to learn Braille. The system,
originally developed for the French military, is made up of six dots
arranged in various patterns. They are read by people's fingertips.
But the system can seem outdated in a modern era where touchscreens are
ubiquitous.
Accessible touch screen devices such as the iPad offer a huge range of
possibilities for developers and for blind and partially sighted
people," said Robin Spinks, the Royal National Institute for Blind
People's manager of digital accessibility.
"This prototype Braille keyboard for touch screen devices represents a
very promising development, and RNIB look forward to being able to test
it with our members in the future," he added.
It may be some while until the Stanford project is turned into a
commercial reality but the team are determined.
"Who knows what we will get because of this device. It is opening a
door that wasn't open before," said Mr Dharmaraja.
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