Sumit Dagar has spent the last three years designing and developing the first Braille-enabled smartphone. If testing is successful, the highly anticipated device could be on the market by the end of the year.
With funding from Rolex, and collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and LV Prasad Eye Institute, Dagar created a prototype that uses haptic touch screen, a technology that elevates and depresses content creating touchable patterns, in essence, the same idea as the more commonly known Braille system. The phone consists of a complex grid of tiny pins, moving up and down, ""touch defining"" text and images.
Visually-impaired people will soon have the ability to follow real-time facial expressions, interpret maps, play games, and much more. There is no discussion yet as to how much the device will cost, but it's sure to cause quite a stir when it becomes available to the public.
