We take it for granted
Some of best technologies that have ever been invented are those technologies that allow people with disabilities to function more like normal. We often take for granted that we can read, walk, breathe, and speak. We have little idea what it must be like to not be able to do those things as freely as we do. I can’t imagine what life would be like without sight. So much information is taken in through the eyes. It is not just by what we experience but also through reading books. Books and print give us access to the world beyond our experience. It allows us to share our experiences with the world. In this way, blind people have a much more limited access to the sharing of information. The good news is that technology is changing this. One way in which the technology is helping the visually impaired is through technology used by 3D laser scanning services and 3D printing services. 3D printing is giving the blind the ability to print in braille.
3D Printing Braille
It is not hard to see how 3D scanning services and 3D printing services can be used for producing braille. Normal printing, as we all know, is just ink on paper. You would not feel anything if you were to rub your fingers over it. A 3D printer, on the other hand, produces multilayer objects. If we consider braille dots as objects, then a 3D printer can easily be turned into a braille printer. There is one guy named Shubham Banerjee who did just that. In an effort to raise money for the blind, he allowed himself the experience going for a short while without sight and realized the difficulty faced being visually impaired. Banerjee came up with the idea to make a 3D braille printer as a result of that experience mixed with his interest in science, .
He did it
Did Banerjee succeed in creating a 3D braille printer? He did indeed. The company name is Braigo Labs that sells the Braigo 1.0. Just like a 2D printer can print out pages of text. The Braigo 1.0 can print out transcriptions at about 100 words per minute. The cost of the braigo printer will cost about $350, but you won’t be able to buy it now. Currently it is still in its development stage, but it shouldn’t be long before it is in production. I’m sure that the blind will find it a great advantage once it does.
Banerjee’s hope is that blind people can share the same experience through reading internet media as most of us do for free. Everyday we can access news sites and articles that blind people can’t. Of course blind people have braille material, but that material is very limited compared to what the rest of us have. Fortunately there are guys like Benerjee who are using technologies related to 3D printing services and 3D scanning services that are making life easier for the blind. It just makes me wonder what other technologies are waiting to be developed to help people overcome disabilities.
