[nfbcs] Fw: Thai researchers develop affordable Braille display

[John G. Heim]

It's amazing how many of these stories there are about researchers making a breakthrough in developing inexpensive braille displays. I'll bet I've seen 10 of them in the last 5 years. It's amazing to me that the raised soenoid technology still dominates. I'd have thought that by now, one of these breakthroughs would have been legitimate. 


On Dec 30, 2012, at 8:46 AM, Tracy Carcione wrote:

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> Thai researchers develop affordable braille display
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> Asia-Pacific, Dec 27, 2012
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> THAILAND: Thai researchers say they have developed a new and cheaper way for people who are blind to read text from a computer.
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> A team at the Synchrotron Light Research Centre in Nakhon Ratchasima said they have developed a Braille display with polymer cylinders that react to light
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> rays to help people with vision disabilities read text.
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> While computer-connected Braille displays are not new, Synchrotron’s innovation is the first of its kind in the world, and is much cheaper than other types
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> of Braille displays, researcher Rungrueng Phatthanakun said.
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> Synchrotron is the name of an accelerator, a machine that speeds up electrons in the machine’s magnetic field to produce light.
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> The light produces an x-ray which then causes tiny cylinders made out of a polymer substance on the reading display to move up and down beneath the reader’s
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> fingers as “raised dots” of Braille alphabets.
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> Mr Rungrueng said his team had made a Braille display suitable for reading Thai script.
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> However, users at Nakhon Ratchasima’s school for the blind found the display gives only a 67% accuracy in reading Thai words. English-reading accuracy was
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> measured at 83%.
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> While some foreign Braille displays cost more than 300,000 baht a unit, the researchers expect to sell their new displays for about 50,000 apiece, Mr Rungrueng
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> said.
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> His team is seeking a patent for the innovation, and improving the device to help users read electronic texts more accurately. The team also plans to develop
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> Braille displays compatible with tablet computers and smart phones.
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> Source: Bangkok Post
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> ===
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> If we assume this Braille display would cost about on-sixth the price of the displays we know, it would put it at about $500, still pretty step for a lot of people.  But it is interesting.
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> David
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