Braille is hard. People who have become visually impaired, or have been from birth, try to learn it in order to read signs and text in public spaces, but it is unintuitive and takes a long time to learn.
To ease this process, we have created the BRAD (Braille Reader And Decoder), a small, handheld Braille-to-English translator that uses audio to communicate with the user. This means that anyone can use the device, regardless of their skill level in reading Braille. In fact, their understanding will most likely improve as they use it.
The device has six switches on its front which act as a keypad. The two buttons on the side are for inputting a letter and finishing a word. There is a headphone jack on the top to hear the spoken text.
To use the device, someone feels a braille letter on a sign or in a book, copies the character onto the keypad, and then presses a button on the side. If they just want to hear one letter, they can press the button that finishes the word. If they want that letter to be part of a bigger word, they can press the button that inputs that letter and allows another letter to be inputted on the keypad.
We hope that this device will allow anyone to learn Braille by actually using it in public situations.
Brad: The Website Ⓒ 2021