[Nfb-hi] A Touch Screen Braille Keyboard Coming to a Tablet Near You

[Milton Ota]

Feature Writer Alena Roberts - A Touch Screen Braille Keyboard Coming

to a Tablet Near You

 

The ability to use a touch screen as a blind person is amazing, but it

is still quite difficult to type efficiently. IOS devices like the

iPhone can have a physical blue tooth keyboard or braille display

attached to them, but this adds extra cost and requires extra space

for traveling. What if instead, the blind could write using a braille

keyboard on the touch screen itself? Well now, a team at Stanford

University has come up with a way to do this.

 

According to the lead designer, to use the braille keyboard the person

simply places their eight fingers on the touch screen once. The touch

screen then recognizes that the person wants to type using braille. As

long as the person keeps their fingers close to where they started,

they can start typing and the program will adjust to movements in your

finger position. If you want to get a drink of water or move your

hands to do something else, simply put eight fingers back on the touch

screen and tap once and you can start typing again.

 

This project could be a way to increase braille literacy because the

software will be built into the device. Braille displays and

notetakers cost thousands of dollars which puts them out of reach for

a majority of the blind community. If a braille keyboard was available

on a tablet PC, then far more people would have access. The next step

should be building in braille output, but that will be more of a

challenge.

 

To learn more about the project, listen to this episode of the market

place tech report:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.
php?name=marketplace/tech_report/2011/10/17/marketplace_tech_report20111017_
64

 

You can also watch this YouTube video presented by Standford

University: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABfCXJSjAq0

 

This story comes from the Matilda Ziegler Magazine posted on Monday, October
24.