Joining dots: Affordable Braille laptop from IIT-Delhi

NEW DELHI : After Smart Cane and Smart Board, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi has come up with another device to empower individuals with visual impairment. Calling it DotBook, the institute has developed a Braille laptop that will soon be available in the markets.

Dotbook is a

refreshable Braille display

(RBD) to enable easy access to digital content for people with visual impairment. Available in two versions — DotBook 20P and DotBook40Q — this device can be used to read, write, listen, browse and edit information from different sources. As both these devices have a tactile

Braille

output interface in the form of raised dots, those using it can access the content line by line.

20P is 20-cell Braille variant with Perkins keys while the other is a 40-cell Braille variant with a QWERTY keyboard. Professor M Balakrishnan, the brain behind the project, said that it took the team five years to complete it. The study for developing this device was conducted at more than 10 sites and used by over 200 users.

“This device represents an excellent example of user-oriented applied research. It is not only interdisciplinary in nature, as it brings together advanced techniques in mechanical, low-power electronics, software and UI design together, but also a sustained effort of a large team. As printed Braille is expensive, time consuming, bulky to store and short-lived, DotBook will be useful for students and also create employment opportunities for the visually challenged,” Balakrishnan said.

According to the researchers, this device will help approximately 1.3 crore people.

With an IIT-D patent technology of shape-memory alloy-based actuation, which is a low-cost alternative technology used by existing RBD, the cost of this device will come down by almost 60%. The developers hope to have 1 lakh end users by 2021-end.

A user, Sonali, a visually impaired working woman, used the device after it was launched on Wednesday and sent an e-mail to IIT-D director V Ramgopal Rao. “It is easy to use and makes me independent. It is certainly going to empower people like us,” she wrote.

Shakuntala D Gamlin, secretary, department of empowerment of person with disabilities, who was the chief guest, said, “It is a great set of invention, which will empower person with visual impairment.”