A SMARTWATCH DESIGNED FOR THE BLIND

Group of students at the University of Washington created a start -up to develop an affordable Braille smartwatch, called Dot.

Dot, can display four Braille characters at a time. Each character space has six active pins that rise and fall to produce the combinations of the Braille alphabet and numerical system. The watch connects via Bluetooth to a Smartphone, just like any other smartwatch, and uses a unique actuator powered by magnets to raise and lower the pins. It can display incoming texts, notifications, tweets, the time, and even entire e-books. When a text message arrives on the phone, the app translates it to Braille and sends it to Dot (which vibrates) and then the pins rise and fall to relay the characters. Other Dot features include a watch, alarms, remainders etc. Dot lasts about five days between charges. The rate at which the watch displays new characters can be calibrated to meet the user’s reading speed. When Dot isn’t translating text, it presents the time. Those who are looking to learn Braille can use a phone app that pronounces a letter as it pops up on the watch. The National Federation of the Blind estimates that Braille. Technology like Dot can help make Braille-learning programs much more accessible. –T.Vaishnavi, B.E. – 3/4

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