This is a great article we found on Engadget about a concept design for a mobile, one fingered “glove” that could put Braille at your figure tip. The Thimble, developed by UW students, works as a Bluetooth Braille display when paired with a smartphone, it has a built-in camera for transcribing written words into Braille and has a built in microphone for voice control. The video in the article shows a woman accessing messages and browsing RSS feeds from her smartphone by clicking a button on the side of the Thimble which is fitted over her index finger. She also takes a picture of a flyer for a local band and the text is transcribed into Braille which she reads through the Thimble’s electro-tactile grid. Using the voice controls and talking into the built-in microphone, she is able to access the GPS functionality of her smartphone and seek directions to a local coffee shop. For those of you imagining that she is talking into the tip of her finger in public, no worries, the microphone appears to be on the side of the Thimble so it doesn’t look any more odd than every other Bluetooth user talking to themselves on the street.
This is where I hope technology goes for our older son, who's blind. In the truest sense of the word - awesome!
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