Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Question about braille printing (self.Blind)
submitted by BakedPecans
Hi all,
First off, I know pretty much nothing about blindness/braille in general so please feel free to correct me on my terminology and what not. Anyways, I'm a student working in Computer Science and I had an interesting idea to create cheap braille "printers" but I just wanted to see if there was a need for it or if that is even a thing that exists. From what I saw from my brief internet searches devices that will print out braille are typically very expensive and I believe I have a possible solution to make similar devices for somewhere around $25-$100.
If I would continue with this project I would strive to make it cheap, accessible, and open-source.
If there is a place for this in the community or other similarly monopolized/expensive devices please let me know!
Thanks!
First off, I know pretty much nothing about blindness/braille in general so please feel free to correct me on my terminology and what not. Anyways, I'm a student working in Computer Science and I had an interesting idea to create cheap braille "printers" but I just wanted to see if there was a need for it or if that is even a thing that exists. From what I saw from my brief internet searches devices that will print out braille are typically very expensive and I believe I have a possible solution to make similar devices for somewhere around $25-$100.
If I would continue with this project I would strive to make it cheap, accessible, and open-source.
If there is a place for this in the community or other similarly monopolized/expensive devices please let me know!
Thanks!
ABookishSort 3 points 5y ago
A Braille printer is called an embosser. As a Braille transcriber we (my coworker and I) use the term "emboss" instead of print when it comes to Braille output. A Braille embosser need to work with a Braille translating software (I think the most common being Duxbury) and a Braille graphics program like QuickTac in order to be functional for a transcriber.
A student or blind adult may have different needs in an embosser.
A student or blind adult may have different needs in an embosser.
BakedPecans [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Thanks for the feedback!
KillerLag 2 points 5y ago
Do you mean a printer that would output the braille onto paper (http://www.enablingtechnology.com/index-basic-d-embosser-602-p.asp), or a braille output device that displays braille but refreshes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display)?
I wanted to clarify because from your description, it might go either way.
They are both quite expensive, and there are benefits to making them cheaper.
The Orbit is suppose to be coming out soon (unless it did get released already), and I believe that is about $450. I believe that is the current cheapest refreshable braille display currently on market.
http://www.aph.org/orbit-reader-20/
I wanted to clarify because from your description, it might go either way.
They are both quite expensive, and there are benefits to making them cheaper.
The Orbit is suppose to be coming out soon (unless it did get released already), and I believe that is about $450. I believe that is the current cheapest refreshable braille display currently on market.
http://www.aph.org/orbit-reader-20/
BakedPecans [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Awesome thank you for the feedback. I think right now I'm aiming for a printer just to see if my idea is feasible and it seems like an easier task overall. If I'm successful I'll likely take on the display next.
WikiTextBot 1 points 5y ago
**Refreshable braille display**
A refreshable braille display or braille terminal is an electro-mechanical device for displaying braille characters, usually by means of round-tipped pins raised through holes in a flat surface. Blind computer users who cannot use a computer monitor can use it to read text output. Speech synthesizers are also commonly used for the same task, and a blind user may switch between the two systems or use both at the same time depending on circumstances. Deafblind computer users may also use refreshable braille displays.
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A refreshable braille display or braille terminal is an electro-mechanical device for displaying braille characters, usually by means of round-tipped pins raised through holes in a flat surface. Blind computer users who cannot use a computer monitor can use it to read text output. Speech synthesizers are also commonly used for the same task, and a blind user may switch between the two systems or use both at the same time depending on circumstances. Deafblind computer users may also use refreshable braille displays.
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^Downvote ^to ^remove ^| ^v0.27
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