Braille is a tactile system of communication, used the world over by those with vision impairment. Like any form of language or writing, it can be difficult to teach and learn. To help solve this, [memoriesforbecca] has developed Becdot as a teaching tool to help children learn Braille.
The device is built around four Braille cells, which were custom-designed for the project. The key was to create a device which could recreate tactile Braille characters at low cost, to enable the device to be cheap enough to be used a children’s toy. The Braille cells are combined with an NFC tag reader. Small objects are given NFC tags which are programmed into the Becdot. When the object is placed onto the reader, the Braille cells spell out the name of the object. Objects can be tagged and the system programmed with a smartphone, so new objects can be added by the end user.
It’s a great way to teach Braille, and an impressive build that keeps costs down low. Details are a little thin on the ground, and we’d love to see more detail on how the actuators on the Braille cells work. We’ve seen similar projects before, like this Hackaday prize entry. Share your theories in the comments below.
Looks like it uses opposing magnets
Too bad there isn’t much details about how the braille cells actually operate.
Maybe they’re based on those robo cockroach kits, where you can make it lift any of 6 legs…
The Alphabet characters shown are already encoded with plastic tabs, I’m surprised those aren’t used instead of RFID tags.
Definitely robo coackroaches!! Not exactly but good guess will share more on the mechanisms in a later post. One clue is that there are not 24 individual actuators driving the pins which is what keeps the cost so low. ;)