Blitab - A First of it's Kind Braille Tablet

In the fall, Blitab Technology will release its portable tablet designed for blind and visually impaired people.  Named the Blitab, a mash-up of the words blind and tablet, it is the first of it’s kind to translate any type of content into Braille and displays one page of content at a time.  Designed by Kritina Tsvetanova, Blitab Technology’s CEO, the Blitab is only slightly thicker than an iPad and utilizes two separate display fields.  The important top half houses the tablet’s glass with perforated grid holes, which allow Blitab’s liquid-based technology to create tactile relief.  She calls these “tixels,” and these create the output content of the Braille alphabet. A rising sensation will be felt under a user’s fingertips as the tablet converts text, maps, and graphics into Braille. The bottom half of Blitab has a touchscreen that allows uses to select applications, e-books or web browse using their voice.  Pricing for Blitab is expected to be around $500.  Traditional Braille keyboards and readers often rely on piezoelectric technology, have one-line displays and often cost thousands of dollars.  Ms. Tsvetanova is confident the Blitab has the potential to change the lives of people with vision loss by increasing the literacy rates of blind and visually impaired people everywhere, and that in turn could increase employment rates of this often neglected workplace demographic. [Source: Nazanin Lankarani, The New York Times]

Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/03/arts/tablet-devices-blind-braille.html
[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/03/arts/tablet-devices-blind-braille.html]