There are about 180 million blind and partially sighted people in the world and 10 million of these people live in North America. The ultimate education instrument for the blind people is the Braille alphabet. The ability of reading and writing this alphabet is the key to spread literacy among the blind and for the blind to integrate into the workforce of the United States. Among many devices that support the literacy of blind, reading devices are extremely high-tech, but advanced writing devices do not exist. The main objective of this exploratory research is at this critical observation: Design and create a portable, low cost and effective mechatronics based device for writing Braille letters on a standard paper. The device will be developed in consultancy with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB, Baltimore) and with the help of National Braille Press (NBP, Boston) and Visually Impaired and Blind User Group (VIBUG, Boston). The methods to create the writing device is directly within the expertise of the PI, which is mechanical engineering design and mechatronics. With the support of NFB (see the support letter attached) and VIBUG, the device will develop with those who know the needs of the blind people community. The work undertaken here is a perfect fit for EAGER (Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research) as the project is multi-disciplinary and explatory in nature, and it is at high-risk/high-payoff scale targeted to surface the transformative research components in addressing a major problem of the blind.

Intellectual Merit 1. The new writing device is a synergy of ergonomy, portability and low costs. The device will be shaped under these constraints. 2. The robust mechatronics based features of the device will accommodate easy writing experience for the blind. 3. The feasibility of the writing device will be thoroughly assessed by the help of subjects who will test the device. These feedback will not only improve the new device, but they will also advance the science in human factors and disability research in revealing the mechanisms as to how blind people read, write and sense the Braille.

Broader Impacts 1. Dissemination of the device in the United States will be explored via numerous companies that offer products to the blind people. The prototyping stage of the device will be supported in parallel by capstone projects at Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Northeastern University. These activities will have impacts on both mechanical and industrial engineering graduating class. 2. The availability of the new writing device will be extremely helpful for the blind people to become more successful at all levels of education and workforce. The device will accommodate rapid note taking in class rooms, and it will inspire poetry and literature among the blind people. 3. To inspire writing, PI's team will take part in organizing poetry and literature activities with the help of VIBUG. 4. PIs outreach activities including underrepresented middle and high school students will be strengthened via the research progress attained within this project.

Project Report

Several million people in the United States are visually-impaired [American Federation of Blind], and for these people, ability to read/write Braille is the key to literacy, and to joining the workforce. Many devices that can write Braille are unfortunately expensive, some are not portable and/or light weight, some could require too much physical effort to use leading to too slow note taking, and some may not emboss Braille on a standard letter size paper. This presents an obstacle for many end users who need such devices for their education and work, and in order to learn Braille. The intellectual merit in this research arises from the end users' needs: While being in touch with the experts at the National Federation of Blind, the research entailed exploring the feasibility of creating portable, light weight, affordable, and easy to use devices. In this investigation, we found out that several mechanical design ideas can be tailored together to address most of the expectations, including retrofiting a Braille embosser inside of a low-cost ink-jet printer. We also found out that, other than using a mechanical system, an affordable and portable means to physically emboss the thick Braille paper is a major challenge that needs to be addressed. Moreover, we conducted additional research to explore the Braille "reading" process, and found out that existing devices are quite expensive as they utilize many actuators to be able to generate multiple Braille letters on a keyboard-like device. Currently the research in this direction is focused on exploring ways to reduce the number of actuators without sacrificing reading efficiency for the end users. Broader impacts in this research are seen in training of a PhD student, where she gains expertise in this multi-disciplinary research, supervising a MS thesis, as well as two senior design projects in which a total of eight students took on challenging projects to successfully deliver a Braille embossing system retrofitted inside of a low cost inkjet printer, and a Braille typewriter prototype. Some results of the research were published in an MS thesis and in capstone reports, and presented at several Northeastern University Research Expo events as well as at a CBET grantees conference in 2012. Further, contacts were also established, namely with the National Braille Press (Boston MA) and Perkins School of Blind (Watertown MA). Via these contacts, the PI keeps up to date with technological progress in the field, and also explores ways to transfer some of the results obtained in this NSF project to technology, with the hope to eventually reach the end users.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2010-03-01
Budget End
2013-02-28
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$101,318
Indirect Cost
Name
Northeastern University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115