Snehankit Helpline conducted training and familiarisation workshops for visually challenged students and working persons for use of the Braille-Me device in January 2019 as part of the Louis Braille Day celebrations started earlier in the month.
Braille-Me is an affordable portable, refresh-able, user friendly Smart Braille Display device invented by Inceptor Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (www.innovision.co) to enable the visually challenged to get instant mobile connectivity and access to books at their fingertips.
Across the world, visually impaired students and professionals desire quick and easy access to their books, files and notes at an affordable price. Braille-Me device is a revolutionary product that meets and surpasses their expectations. Braille-Me is powered by a patented Braille cell technology enabling an affordable, portable and user friendly Braille display. Aimed to serve a global community, Braille-Me has been tested rigorously in harsh conditions like dust, humidity, heat etc. The body of Braille-Me is reinforced from inside to sustain drops even from some heights.
The features of Braille-Me include:
a) Braille Interface: A fast, smooth six-dot 20 cell Braille display for digital content. The Braille dots are specially designed to give a paper like feel. For input a 6-key Perkins style keypad and 20 routing buttons are provided
b) File Manager: For students to access files from an SD card by browsing, editing and searching content using keywords. Files can be created, edited, renamed or deleted from the device itself.
c) Editor: For working professionals to take notes and read documents, reports etc. The editor supports .TXT, .BRF and .BRL files and has several navigation modes. It also allows for searching keywords inside the file for easy access.
d) Connected: Connects to screen readers like NVDA (Windows), Voice Over (iOS & MacOS) and BrailleBack (Android) for a combination of Braille and audio for a seamless experience.
e) Multilingual: Supports 50+ languages, each device has the capacity to hold 5 languages at a time.
f) Portable: Weighs only 580gms and with dimensions of 18.8cm x 13.8cm x 2.9 cm (WxDxH), is very easy to carry around.
g) Affordable: Inceptor Technologies’ path breaking Braille Cell technology (as opposed to piezoelectric technology used in existing refresh-able Braille devices) has enabled them to slash cost to 1/5th of the market rate for the Braille-Me device, making it affordable for millions of visually challenged persons living in developing countries.
Snehankit Helpline had introduced the Braille-Me device to its students and volunteers during various events in 2018. The CEO and Co-Founder of Inceptor Technologies, Mr Shyam Shah was also felicitated on the occasion of Foundation Day in August 2018. During the Children’s Day celebrations conducted on 16th November 2018, a short presentation about the device was done.
Looking at the response and the requests received from all over Maharashtra, we decided to conduct intensive training session for our friends. Four sessions of the workshop were conducted on 6th January & 12th January, 2019. A total of 35 persons were trained by Mr Bittu Jaiswal and Mr Prathamesh Bhendre from Inceptor Technologies.
The workshop had three parts: i) showing the device and its functions; ii) showing how the device operates with a mobile phone; iii) connecting the device with computer or laptop and showing its functions. Each participant was shown separately and given a chance to ask queries.
A contest was also conducted at the end of the training programme. The participants were encouraged to write an essay on the importance of Braille in their lives after familiarising themselves with the Braille-Me device. Mr Mohammad Razzak was adjudged the winner of the contest.
Braille-Me devices were also donated to 6 deserving students from the Dombivali Centre during the Children’s Day function. We are very thankful to Uttkarsha Mandal of Vile Parle who donated 3 devices and Dr Aparna Joshi and Dr Vandana Joshi who both donated another 3 devices. We are also thankful to Mr Ravindra Joglekar for his contribution towards one Braille-Me Device for the Andheri Centre.
We hope that the device goes a long way in increasing the independence of the visually challenged and caters to the pressing need for an affordable, portable, refresh-able
smart braille device in our country.