Braille Phone Aims To Give Blind Users 'Superpowers' (VIDEO)

Thanks to our gadgets, we're gained a slew of superhero-like skills. We're able send messages without ever typing a word, monitor a traffic jam on the other side of the country, and call up the entire history of a building just by taking its photo.

At the same time, not everyone is reaping equal rewards from the latest advances in hardware and software. Sumit Dagar, a filmmaker, interaction designer, and TED fellow from India, worries that new technologies are putting handicapped individuals at a greater disadvantage. Others agree: an advocacy group for the blind recently petitioned the Justice Department to investigate whether the use Google Apps by colleges is discriminating against blind students and faculty.

"Technology is giving everyone superpowers," Dagar told the Huffington Post in an interview. "But handicapped people are not able to tap into these cool new features and the technology is making them even more disabled."

In an effort to help disabled users tap into the "superpowers" afforded by new technology, Dagar has designed a "Braille phone" for the blind that features an interactive, touch-responsive rubber display panel that would present text, video, maps, and other information as raised lines and dots.

The concept phone, which Dagar presented at the 2011 TED conference, offers a twist on the typical touchscreen: whereas existing smartphones display pixels as colors, the moving screen of Dagar's phone would translate pixels into height. For example, a text message might appear in Braille, while a tic-tac-toe game would be shown in elevated lines, circles, and X's.

The Braille phone concept is an intriguing one that had TED attendees buzzing, but it is unlikely that such a phone will be available in the near future.

Dagar acknowledges there are considerable difficulties that must be overcome, especially with regard to building the tactile surface of the interactive screen.

"Coding is not the technical challenge, the surface is the technical challenge," Dagar said. "Creating the surface itself is a hardware problem--at least for me, but certainly not for researchers working in materials."

Getting electronics manufacturers to invest in the research and development of such a phone, which would not have the mainstream appeal--and thus revenue potential--of gadgets like the iPhone, is another hurdle.

Still, Dagar plans to push forward with his concept and will be working on building a prototype of the phone.

"There has been immense interest [in the Braille phone] from people who have blind people in their family," he said. "These features could totally change the world for someone who is blind."

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Comments

[Cody Wetzel]

12:01 PM on 03/23/2011

This is so cool. Here is real technological innovation folks.

[GrownupStewie]

02:32 AM on 03/23/2011

fantastic idea, the problem with this phone is the surface...now instead of a smooth rubber like surface, the area where the "screen" is, needs to be make up of about 1000 little rubber sticks that get pushed into the air to create braille in which users can read, im guessing an electronic charge would be rendered for certain areas of the phone when say a particular message is sent to the phone, and this charge will tell the corresponding rubber sticks to move up into the air to create the correct message....this means you don't need a super thin like rubber surface where the bumps would be more difficult to read...great ideas though

[EricBishop]

06:48 PM on 03/22/2011

Wait...there weren't already braille cell phones? Over 15 years ago, a trader at my dad's firm had a little braille bar for reading his ticker list. It was no bigger than the space bar on a typical keyboard. How do we not have a cell phone with braille yet?

[Max Shaw]

05:31 PM on 03/22/2011

Ths is a fabulous idea! I think blind people certainly have it hard enough, and if they can develop a phone that is handicap-user friendly then amen! Just make sure they dont use it while crossing the street...Thankfully,I can see, but still get sidetracked by texting..I would imagine that also not being able while texting and commuting would put people at an even greater disadvantage.

[eilish]

03:41 PM on 03/21/2011

Well, now, that discriminates against the recently blinded. My 32 year old son is finding Braille impossibly difficult to learn. So he's still not going to be 'in the loop'.

Thank you so much, Dick Cheney, for your incessant seeking of more oil, power an money that has devastated many an American life. You who discouraged all attempts at increasing military/VA benefits during your reign of terror.

[CaptainObvvious]

11:29 AM on 03/22/2011

As he becomes more and more accustomed to relying on his sense of touch and it becomes a primary sense like hearing and seeing are for most people he will pick it up faster and faster.

Most people use their sense of touch but only to the degree necessary but to the visually impaired it is as primary a sense as sight is for the sighted.

It may seem hard now to pick up braille but as he gets used to relying on touch more it will feel more natural.

I'm sorry to hear about your son's recent handicap...