[nabs-l] FW: [Blindtlk] Open Source Braille Display -- IndieGoGo

David Andrews dandrews at visi.com
Sun Jan 1 03:06:03 UTC 2012


Your assertion that things should be priced by size is one of the 
most utterly ridiculous things that I have ever read!  I could make 
you a giant empty box and charge you a million bucks for it.

The cost of something depends on a lot of things, what goes into 
them, the rarity or plentifulness of what is inside, the work it 
takes to make it, the work it took to develop etc.  And ... with 
electronics and mechanical things, it may actually cost more to make 
very small devices because of the small tolerances for error, the 
difficulty of making a component smaller etc.

There are many variables and a generalization like yours just doesn't stand up.

The major cost of a Braille display is the cells themselves.  It is 
difficult to make them small, precise, fast, and able to cycle 
hundreds of thousands of time without problems.  Over the years I 
have seen countless proposals, and even quite a few prototypes of new 
technology for cells, and none besides the piezoelectric cells we 
currently use have ever panned out.  It doesn't mean one won't do so 
some day, but it is a much more difficult problem then most people 
think.  If it was easy we would already have alternatives -- because 
it isn't because people haven't tried.  A number of years ago I was 
told that the cost of each Braille cell was $50 and I doubt it is 
much less, if any today.  That is the main expense and there is no 
way around it yet.

Dave

At 06:44 PM 12/31/2011, you wrote:
>How many cells are on this new Braille display?
>Also, why do the current ones cost so much?
>That's like the IBill!
>The IBill is small, but it costs $100.
>It's the size of a Giga-pet, like I got as a child.
>I only paid $5, for the giga-pet, but they expect me to pay $100 for
>something, the same size!
>Wow!
>They should price things by size.
>Blessings, Joshua
>
>On 12/31/11, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > wonder when it will be ready for sale. I'd like braille displays to be more
> > affordable. Even $500 would be better than the thousands they are now.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Humberto Avila
> > Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 10:00 PM
> > To: shaneread at fastmail.fm ; jessbrl at fastmail.fm ; deniserob at gmail.com ;
> > nabs-l at nfbnet.org ; GUI-talk at nfbnet.org ; villagers at gmail.com
> > Subject: [nabs-l] FW: [Blindtlk] Open Source Braille Display -- IndieGoGo
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> > Behalf Of David Andrews
> > Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 12:03 PM
> > To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
> > Subject: [Blindtlk] Open Source Braille Display -- IndieGoGo
> >
> > Subject: Open Source Braille Display -- IndieGoGo
> >
> > http://www.indiegogo.com/Open-Source-Braille-Display
> >
> > The Story
> >
> > This project started earlier this year when I
> > read a local author's book of life as a Blind
> > person. After contacting him, I decided I could best help by
> > designing a simple device to make low-cost
> > Braille display from a computer possible.
> >
> > So Will It Change the World?
> >
> > I hope so - or I wouldn't be working on it!
> >
> > Braille is to the Blind as the written word is to
> > us sighted folk - and so Braille literacy is
> > vitally important. Yet according to Wikipedia, while in 1960
> > half of blind American schoolchildren could read
> > Braille, in 2007, that number had dropped to one
> > in ten. To improve literacy, we need to make available
> > more ways to access and learn Braille - and an
> > important one is a tool to allow the Blind to
> > read the vast amounts of information on the Internet.
> >
> > For many years, Braille readers have done just
> > that. A Braille reader takes computer text and
> > turns it into tactile impressions of Braille characters for
> > the blind to 'read'. However, these devices are
> > expensive - thousands of dollars - and so few can
> > afford them. The goal of this project is to make an Open
> > Source/Open Hardware Braille reader: simpler,
> > easy to build, well documented, and inexpensive,
> > so people anywhere can make it themselves (or get it made
> > locally).
> >
> > But there's a second goal: to get people doing
> > more. This design is meant to be simple and cheap
> > to build. My hope is other, smarter people will step in
> > and build better, faster, and more powerful
> > devices. But nobody is doing it now, and so
> > someone has to start the ball rolling.
> >
> > With your help, this will be that ball...
> >
> > What You Can Do
> >
> > The goal is to get from the current first
> > prototype to a finished design for a 40-character
> > Braille display, complete with software, and all the details
> > people need to build it, placed online. To that
> > end, here's some of the things needed:
> > list of 4 items
> > . Small CNC machine (build or buy), to do faster
> > turnaround of prototype parts.
> > . Purchase a selection of stepper motors and
> > driver boards, to test different
> > price/performance ratios for the Braille display design.
> > . Get a low-cost netbook to prototype the exact
> > software to run a device (netbook rather than a
> > full computer so as to test the device in the most likely
> > 'real world' situation).
> > . Materials! Prototypes use up a lot of material,
> > as a part can get tweaked many times, each time requiring a new piece cut
> > out.
> > list end
> >
> > Make no mistake - the project IS going ahead,
> > whether a little or a lot of money comes in - the
> > difference is just the speed things happen! So when this
> > project is out there making the difference I hope
> > it will, ask yourself how good it will feel to
> > say 'I helped with that' - and please contribute!
> >
> > Any level is appreciated, and there's some 'thank
> > yous' listed on the right side of this page to show appreciate 
> for your aid.
> >
> > Progress will be discussed on my blog,
> > http://UtopiaMechanicus.com,
> > and designs will be made available there as they
> > are finished. All code and design will also be
> > made available for download, allowing people to make or
> > modify these products.
> >
> > What (Else) You Can Do
> >
> > Tell the world - the more people that know of
> > this project, the greater impact we can make.
> > Blog about it, tweet away, link to it, talk about it at work.
> > And please share this information with everyone and anyone.
> >
> > Thank You.





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