Electronics-free $10 Braille writer

If you've ever needed a surefire way to impress a professor, besting his estimates by 80 percent on a project is probably a safe bet. Four mechanical engineering students at The Johns Hopkins University were tasked with developing a simple tool to write in Braille for less than $50, and no electronic components could be used; their portable writing invention checked in at around $10 apiece when mass produced. Typically, computer-assisted and typewriter-style composition is quite costly and isn't very practical for, say, busy blind professionals trying to write on-the-go. Braille letters are traditionally formed by creating up to six impressions -- better known as bumps -- into sequenced cells that form words. The students' writer has six buttons with corresponding pins that can be depressed simultaneously, which makes filling in cells substantially quicker than the traditional "one bump at a time" method. The team recently presented the device to the National Federation of the Blind where board members saw a great deal of promise for the handheld tool, and although commercialization plans have yet to be envisioned, this advancement in Braille transcription is definitely an eye-opener.

[Via MedGadget]

[dapharmer @ Aug 1st 2006 6:18PM]

ahh makes me proud to be a jhu alumnus yet again

[RiskyChris @ Aug 1st 2006 6:25PM]

I find the references to sight near the end of your article are in rather poor taste. =(

[CaptainResin @ Aug 1st 2006 6:29PM]

My thoughts exactly, beat me to it.

[Stuart Frisby @ Aug 1st 2006 6:29PM]

Ditto, not funny and lacking in any sort of good taste.

[Iman @ Aug 1st 2006 6:32PM]

This is actually really exciting -- while I'm not blind, I can read and have written in Braille, and the de facto portable device for writing in Braille is a slate and stylus. This works, like this post said, by punching the characters in dot by dot. While there are Braille typewriters, which are much faster to write with, they are not only heavy and heavy to carry around, but they are also rather expensive. This would be a nice, low-cost, step up from the stylus (I'm guessing you would still use this in conjunction with a slate?), which would make it faster to write.

[jmatt1122 @ Aug 1st 2006 6:37PM]

I also thought the joke was was in bad taste.

[aaron @ Aug 1st 2006 7:00PM]

ditto the bad taste comments.

[Mr. AJ @ Aug 1st 2006 7:08PM]

The joke was pretty witty, you guys need to stop being so uptight.

[Othello @ Aug 1st 2006 7:21PM]

I thought the jokes were hilarious, and so does my blind friend Janey.

[Scott @ Aug 1st 2006 7:41PM]

I don't see what is so tasteless about it.

I'm Pun-believable.

[Juan Carlos @ Aug 1st 2006 8:16PM]

I defintely saw that exact same prototype(or something very similar to it) as someone's final project for ME 203 at Stanford. Very fishy, very fishy indeed.

[Darren Murph @ Aug 1st 2006 8:28PM]

Sorry folks, no ill intentions at all meant by the jokes.

I have a father who's legally blind, so I actually find devices that assist those who are blind very interesting and worthwhile.

[Nizam Rahman @ Aug 1st 2006 9:08PM]

I'm all for empowering the blind. These kids should be given a medal or something.

[Dolomite @ Aug 2nd 2006 12:08AM]

Making fun of blind people isn't very cool.

[Michael @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:54AM]

its the politically correct brigade.

[RacetrackOwner @ Aug 2nd 2006 5:53AM]

Engadget hates teh blind!!!!1! Fear the righteous bleating of politically correct indignation!

I have a question. I'm guessing from the strap, you hold it with one hand. So how do you use all six buttons simultaneously? As far as I know, blindness does not generally involve growing extra digits on the hand. (Oh, I'm sorry, was that insensitive?) Or is it three fingers with one hand and three with the other?

[sinjinn @ Aug 2nd 2006 5:58AM]

I'm not sure if it is very safe with the metal rods protruding out from the bottom. I mean , you could take someones eye out with that.
and if any one thinks that is bad taste i will just say that my best friend is black.

[Scott @ Aug 2nd 2006 6:38AM]

Way to go at my Alma Mater!!

Keep up the fantastic work. Really nice to see the engineering department finally get some notice we do a little more than just medicine.

Grats guys, see ya once lax starts.

[mathmonkey @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:24AM]

This is great. Reminds me of the solar racers. Get college kids into competition and solve some real problems with fresh persepectives. I've been looking for some creative ways to present mathematical ideas to the blind, so I'm hoping that problem gets a similar treatment.

[AcceptableRisk @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:49AM]

A question from the ignorant: So if braille is a series of raised dots and you usually use a stylus to punch impressions one dot at a time, do you ordinarily write braille backwards? I ask because it seems like you'd have flip the page over in order to read it.

[Betsy Brint @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:10PM]

I am the mother of nine year old son who is blind. We are always looking for great ways for him to jot down quick notes. We are very excited about this product and look forward to buying one when available. As for the "eye opener" comment - nothing wrong with it! People need to lighten up a bit and learn to see the humor not the negative. I am thrilled that people are working to make life easier for anyone who is a braille writer and reader. Also, yes, if using a slate and stylus, you need to write the braille code backwards.

[Kevin @ Aug 2nd 2006 7:28PM]

All of you who complained need to get over your overly "PC" tendencies. I bet most of the people complaining don't even know a blind person. Even for the sake of being "politically correct" some people need to stop taking up the battle for people who never asked them to fight for their cause in the first place.

For the record, my father was blind and he had a good sense of humor even for blind jokes.

[St Bling @ Aug 3rd 2006 1:34PM]

I thought the joke was a little bland. I would have prefered something more offensive, like maybe a comment about them not being able to read the instruction manual, or accidentally stabbing themselves with it.

[Randy @ Oct 14th 2007 6:47AM]

how about a flip on a bad joke equally STUPID !! for sighted people

" are you blind as a bat " or better yet for a BaseBall player
" why did'nt you catch that fly ball it was comming right to you
are you blind get the point both blind and sighted people use off
humor in speech not directed at both abilities

[Barbara @ Oct 30th 2007 11:39AM]

Can this braille writer be purchased anywhere in the US now?

[Carrie Morrison @ Mar 3rd 2008 7:59AM]

Can this braille writer be purchased anywhere in the US now?