Taken from Mumbai Mirror:
US students design portable Braille label maker By Agencies Posted On Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 02:33:01 AM Cambridge: A team of MIT students have come up with a prototype device that is small and easily portable, can produce the entire panoply of Braille characters, and can be relatively easily loaded and operated by touch. They hope the device, named the 6dot Braille Labeler, can ultimately be produced for less than Rs 10,000. One everyday problem for people who are blind is distinguishing things that are completely identical - such as different CDs and DVDs, or canned goods that are all the same size and shape. To cope with that difficulty, many people make Braille labels to attach to these items. But the existing devices for doing this are either expensive and heavy and limited in the number of characters they can imprint. A close up of the 6dot Braille Labeler, a device created by MIT students to enable blind or visually impaired people to make labels for objects easily and inexpensively "We worked really closely with blind people in developing it", says Karina Pikhart, who is CEO of the new company. "You really can't develop a product without being in close touch with the people you're developing it for. They gave us a lot of good feedback." she added. The battery-operated 6dot device uses standard label tape, and has a built-in microprocessor that can store up to 16 characters in case the user types faster than the device can emboss the tape. It has six buttons across the top - one for each of the six dots in that make up a Braille character - that can be operated by placing two hands on the unit's top, very much like touch-typing. When the label is finished, the user activates a built-in blade to cut the label off. The developers plan to add another blade that will score the end of the tape to make it easier to peel off the backing. They're also working on simplifying the system for loading and unloading a roll of tape. Right now, "it's a little more challenging than we'd like it to be," Pikhart said. They hope to make it as easy as loading and ejecting a VHS tape cartridge. "The goal is to get it into the hands of as many people as possible," she said. Regards. Sandesh No virus found in this outgoing message Checked by PC Tools AntiVirus (6.0.0.19 - 10.004.060). http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
