As they say” beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”, maybe that’s the reason why the inventions designed for the visually challenged, never had that visually appeal. However Matthew Wagerfield’s revolutionary time keeping device which he calls Sentio- seems to carry the sentiments for the ones for whom its been designed. A combination of the old and the new it uses a tactile display, with each segment arises by 1 mm above the watch face thus enabling the users to read the time just by touching the face of the watch. Available in various colors, making it quite fashionable.
Read the rest of this entry »
e-Sullivan will help deaf-blind people to communicate by converting all types of printed materials into Braille. e-Sullivan is a handheld portable communicator for hearing and vision impaired, not only it can convert into Braille, but also provide assistance with such computer-related tasks, such as instant messaging and web browsing.
This device is very slim, you can carry it anywhere, protected by a sturdy outer shell composed of a rubber and plastic resin, no worries when you accidentally drop it. Hearing and vision impaired people can get help from e-Sullivan for reading store product information and prices without any assistance. Its simple surfaces and minimal number of buttons emphasize tactile interaction for straightforward usability. The middle, ring and little fingers operate Braille input buttons, and the thumbs are used for the scrolling wheel and the mode button. Index fingers operate the scanning button. Taeho Wang, the genius designer, has created e-Sullivan concept with hope to be able to lower the wall between deaf-blind people and the world.
Read the rest of this entry »
A smart innovation in wand for the blind, no more classic long stick. This wand is working by sensing the objects around. It can recognize the objects by distance sensor without pole which mean easy to hand carry. This wand can help working utilizing the well developed tactile sense of the blind man. It will raise an alert for the blind to avoid any obstacles and allow time to be ready in advance.
Designer : Jin Woo Han
One of Next-Gen PC Design finalists is Siafu PC Design. The idea behind Siafu was to give people with vision loss an intuitive computer experience. It provides a digitally tactile interface that completely revolutionizes the way that blind people interact with a computer. Siafu lays flat like a tablet and allows the user to fully interact with it by way of touch. The surface of Siafu utilizes a conceptual material called magneclay. This material has the ability to morph upward into any shape. This means that Siafu can generate infinitely refreshable braille and then display it in a book format instead of just one line at a time like current braille displays. Siafu also has the ability to display images as a 3-dimensional relief, allowing blind computer users to experience digital images, and graphic layouts for the first time.
This product is to be used by people who have experienced a loss of sight. Siafu allows users to read text by generating full page braille displays.
The onscreen relief feature also allows users to explore the internet and navigate through websites by physically touching, clicking, and dragging the graphic elements, links, and arrows of the web page. Siafu is also capable of converting all onscreen text to braille relief, so that the user can read whatever is on the screen first hand.
Designer : Jonathan Lucas via NextGenDesign
