BrailleTooth -- Bluetooth Braille Keyboard

cults3d

Hello Everyone, I've been working tirelessly on the project for quite some time now, and I'm excited to finally share it with you all. Although I haven't yet uploaded it to Thingiverse, I've been continually refining it through prototyping - and with the recent announcement of a challenge for assistive technology, I believe this is the perfect moment to unveil it. This innovative idea was born when my friend and I participated in a 3D Printathon at Brandeis University outside Boston, Massachusetts. It was a thrilling 24-hour event where we created something 3D printed that benefited social justice - and although we didn't quite finish within the given time frame, we still managed to secure second place. The actual development process took up most of my summer. To learn more about our project and its significance, I recommend visiting http://www.thejustice.org/article/2015/03/printing-with-purpose. As you may notice from my profile and designs, I'm extremely open about free sharing and open-source concepts - and I plan on making BrailleTooth a fully open-source product. However, considering the time and financial investment I've made in developing this project, I did go into debt and spent most of my summer at home working diligently to eliminate bugs and optimize electronic configurations. Currently, I'm conducting beta testing at a local school for the blind, and the students who are using it love it! As an engineer by profession and not a businessman, I must admit that I'm more of a Tesla than an Edison - but regardless of this fact, I truly believe in making BrailleTooth available to the market. To make my vision a reality, I plan on launching a Kickstarter campaign soon. My goal is to establish a non-profit organization that creates, sells, and shares accessibility products - and once I'm able to produce these items in large quantities, all of my designs, code, and board schematics will be fully open-source. My prints are designed to work without supports and can be single extruded on any capable FDM/FFF like Makerbot, Ultimaker, or RepRap build. If you'd like to stay updated on BrailleTooth's development and Kickstarter campaign, please follow me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/BrailleTooth. I also own the Brailletooth.com domain but haven't had the opportunity to develop the website yet - so please like or follow BrailleTooth on Facebook for updates until then. MISSION STATEMENT: At BrailleTooth, our mission is to create and build accessibility products for the blind and visually impaired community. Currently, we're developing Braille Bluetooth Keyboards that can be integrated into phone cases for both Android and Apple smartphones or as a standalone wallet-sized device that can be connected to any Bluetooth-enabled device like a tablet, phone, or computer to serve as a fully functional keyboard and navigation tool. With advancements in technology, smartphones have become increasingly empowering for the blind community - screen readers read website content and e-books aloud, recent developments enable computers to generate descriptions of visual images, and speech recognition technologies are improving, allowing users to express themselves quickly online with text. However, speaking out what you want to type isn't always suitable, and it can be frustrating when it doesn't work well. What are the alternatives for fast typing on a smartphone as a blind user? You could carry around a large keyboard, buy an expensive refreshable Brailler, or use a specialized app with virtual buttons - all unsatisfactory solutions. This is why we propose BrailleTooth, a phone case with integrated Braille Bluetooth keyboard that allows blind users to type quickly using physical buttons while maintaining a reasonable price point, which is a fraction of the current Braillers on the market. Our idea addresses easier accessibility for the blind by providing a physical Braille keyboard on the back of the case so that visually impaired individuals can type on their phones without relying on the phone to tell them what key is under their finger. It's time-consuming for the visually impaired to type well using a touchscreen - we've found a way to change that. To see our iPhone Brailler in action, please watch this video demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mw84fKFbIw #ASSISTIVETECH