A Wearable Braille-Signing Communicator

November 2016 – March 2017

Coursework for EE2-PRJ E2 Project,
Imperial College,
London, United Kingdom

In the UK, nearly 300,000 individuals with profound sight and hearing impairments rely on tactile signing methods in order to communicate. A wearable device to convert digital text into a Braille character sequence would allow users of conventional Braille code to access electronic sources of information more easily.

We proposed a wearable device to recreate the tactile sensation of a Braille character using vibrators placed on the palm of the hand. We surveyed blind students about their current usage of technology and their suggestions were distilled into a set of design principles for the prototype glove (depicted on the right in this image).