While Braille can give the blind the ability to read, much of the text one encounters is not available in Braille (and our increasing dependence on touch-screen smartphones isn’t helping). Two students at the University of Washington hope to solve this problem with their concept device, which they have termed the “Thimble”. The Thimble contains a fingertip camera and an electro-tactile grid which can read text and convert it to touch sensitive Braille. The device can also interface with a user’s smartphone via Bluetooth for reading online content.
Source: “Thimble”: Another smartphone enabled concept for the visually impaired
(hat tip: Engadget)
