Over the past few years, we’ve seen many companies like Google, IBM, and individual researchers devise innovative devices and services to help the visually impaired. However, although Google has tried to implement a Braille keyboard on Android in the past, there aren’t many devices that help visually impaired people operate digital devices. Currently, a Korean company has developed a tactile display that allows visually impaired people to touch and feel digital images and text.
Dot pad tactile display for the visually impaired
Developed by a company called Dot, which focuses on Korea-based haptic communication, DotPad is a unique haptic that helps visually and visually impaired people touch and feel digital images and texts in the real world. It is a display.this It aims to make it easier than ever for the visually impaired to access educational and communication content...
The dot pad is an advanced braille reading display. Depends on 2,400 movable pins, Will be placed in a specific way. These pins rely on special actuators like those found on smartphone speakers, and you can easily move these pins up and down to form text or images.Using these dynamic pins, which were meticulously set to represent text and images in Braille, the dot pad Generates 300 braille glyphs and 20 or more braille glyphs Use additional lines below the main display area.
One of the important features of the dot pad is Access the app by directly integrating with Apple’s VoiceOver screen reading feature Maps, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. As a result, visually impaired users can now browse Twitter feeds and “touch” their friends’ images on Instagram, thanks to Dot Pad’s image generation capabilities.
“In the 21st century, it didn’t make sense for the visually impaired to have no digital access to graphic information.” Dot co-founder Ki Kwang-sung said. “There are many innovations in every industry, including education, work and social networking services. The demand for graphic information is increasing. That is, the visually impaired are at a loss.” Song added further.
Therefore, the dot pad is called Indispensable device for visually impaired children And “a potentially game-changing addition” to education from kindergarten to high school in a blind community. In addition, the company is currently working on a variety of new features that will allow devices to better represent images.In addition, it Working on how to Locks the pin to the center position to represent the depth and tilt of the image..
In addition, Sung said feedback from the visually impaired community was positive during the test. Co-founders say Dot is currently working with the South Korean and U.S. governments to integrate DotPad into the education sector and leverage existing education funding and subsidy methods to fund the project. Said. Meanwhile, developers can learn more about the Tactile Graphics API here and from Apple’s developer site and develop more Braille-based features for dot pads in the future.
