Similar to multiple tools which one uses in their daily life, hand watches are basically useless for visually impaired. Or, they have been until now. In this article, you`ll get introduced to the Dot, a sleek motorized smartwatch that uses braille to give the wearer the time.
When a blind Parisian schoolteacher named Louis Braille first published his eponymous dot-based language in 1829, thousands of visually impaired readers around the world were given the tools to effortlessly participate in the culture of stories, music, and mathematics that surrounded them. Nearly 200 years later, we can add to that list tweets, texts, and Google Maps directions. One of these tools is the Dot.
Developed in Korea, the Dot is an extremely new product that offers a new take on telling the time and giving notifications to the visually impaired. Notably, because it uses braille and not just indicators to mimic hands, the Dot can offer true rich notifications, not just numbers for the time.
The Dot works in a pretty straightforward manner. Underneath the dial are four motorized modules, each with six possible dots. Each dot can be raised or lowered individually, so the Dot can display up to four braille characters at a time. The wearer then just reads the dial as he or she would a piece of paper with braille on it.
Moreover, the device can be connected to your iOS or Android device. Therefore lets you access notifications or read memos.
With a dynamic braille display that can be adjusted to suit the wearer’s preferred reading speed, the Dot transcribes real-time updates from whatever device it’s connected to, meaning Facebook alerts, texts, emails, GPS directions, and virtually any other mobile notification is now fair game for instant braille transcription. Users can also send simple messages from their wrist using a small suite of buttons on the watch’s side. The whole design of the watch is fit to be accessible to the deafblind.
Sources: Hodinkee, Reader`s Digest, American Foundation for the Blind
