Making an iPad case for blind to “See” with touch

In the mid-80's I had a friend who was blind. He wanted to study computers, so the state bought him an Amiga 1000 because it has built-in speech capabilities.

But the accessory he seemed to use the most was a device that sat above the keyboard that was an array of maybe 200x50 pins that moved in and out. He could use it as a window to scroll around the display (I think it followed the mouse pointer) and use his fingers to "see" the menu bars and controls, etc... It was pretty cool. A little noisy, but not as noisy as a dot matrix printer of the time.

He also had a self-contained DOS computer with no screen that had an input keyboard like a stenographer's keyboard. It was about the size of a paperback book, and the output was voice-only. I thought it was neat, but he didn't like it because it was from Australia, and the combination of the crude voice synthesis of the time, and a heavy Australian accent made it hard to understand. I thought it was cool for the very same reason.

If you haven't seen Stuff Made Here's other videos, you're missing out. He started 3 months ago and every video is good. My favorite is the robotic golf club that adjusts as you swing to match any club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Cv9fvajrc

Tactile displays are a thing

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014193820...

There are a lot of interesting developments in the haptics world, yet we have to see something really interesting and different from vibrations to get to the next level..

I tried to build a startup around haptic technology which could have changed things in that space. It didn't work out as we couldn't get funded. Still, a prototype is laying on a shelf somewhere...

This is an interesting idea but from the point of view of ergonomics how much of an improvement is it from a simple stick ? I am finding it difficult to image a blind person keeping hands in folded position all thorough the day.

I think a more practical approach might be a similar setup with a mobile phone in pocket ( similar to her movie ? )

Interesting idea and an entertaining and informative video. Subscribed.