A nod to Steve Jobs, Stanford University, Telkom Institute of Technology & Imagine Cup 2011 Competition

As I sit here and write on my Mac computer, and “consume” technology daily, I am delighted to see the possible inventors and visionaries of the next wave begin to appear. This is an article I found on Design Taxi, a site I really enjoy and find all sorts of information. Kudos to them for this article!

App Revolutionizes Touch-Screen Tablets For the Blind  http://www.designtaxi.com/news/350936/App-Revolutionizes-Touch-Screen-Tablets-For-the-Blind/ 

Adam Duran
Adam Duran

In a two-month summer course at Stanford University, undergrad student Adam Duran developed a touch-screen Braille writer as a tool for visually impaired students.

While a Braille keyboard costs US$6,000 each and are bulky, the app works on an Android tablet that costs US$300.

As touch-screen devices don’t offer tactile feedback, the app adapts to the user rather than have the user adapt to the app. Instead of having the user find the keys, the app calibrates to the user’s fingers.

a touch-screen Braille writer

Duran also coded the app to duplicate a Braille keyboard, that only has eight keys—which visually-handicapped students have gotten used to.

Instead of having the user find the keys, the app calibrates to the user’s fingers.
The app calibrates to the user’s fingers.

                                           Originally, Duran and fellow students were tasked to come up with an accessibility tool, “to create a character-recognition application that would use the camera on a mobile device—a phone or tablet—to transform pages of Braille into readable text,” Duran said.

But after looking at the problem Duran and his mentors realized that the issue was the writing—and not the reading.

“How does a blind person orient a printed page so that the computer knows which side is up? How does a blind person ensure proper lighting of the paper?” said Duran.

It has not been said when the app would be released. ”  To see the article on the Deign taxi site: http://www.designtaxi.com/news/350936/App-Revolutionizes-Touch-Screen-Tablets-For-the-Blind/
Watch this amazing You Tube video to find out more and see this in real time.  http://youtu.be/ABfCXJSjAq0

I feel compelled to mention – on the You Tube page — the first comment is

“We’re from Institut Teknologi Telkom (Telkom Institute of Technology),Indonesia made it first on June 23rd, 2011…and win the (USA) Imagine Cup 2011 Competition (by Microsoft) as a Worldwide First Runner-up on Windows 7 Touch Challenge…We named it Sparkins. I watched their video as well- indeed the same concept. –ArnantoAkbar (the Visual Designer)    http://youtu.be/xoBbtf_dWL4

Regardless of who gets the credit- it is very cool.  I still say, a tribute to technology helping people from many walks of life. A nod to Jobs, a nod to Stanford, a nod to Telkom Institute of Technology in Indonesia, and to all the inovatores who are making this technology happen. Arnanto Akbar was also gracious enough to say a few lines down…. “we’ve done our best, and so do you guys (Standford University) 🙂 Let’s make a better system with technology to help disabilities people in the world.”  

That is indeed the bottom line!