title: A portable eBook reader for the blind.
abstract: This paper presents the design and first prototype of the TactoBook system, a novel concept of reading assistive device that aims to make eBooks accessible to the blind. The TactoBook consists of a computer-based software translator that converts fast and automatically any eBook into Braille. The Braille version of the eBook is then encrypted as a file and stored in a USB memory drive which is later inserted and reproduced in a compact, lightweight, and highly-portable tactile terminal. Braille readers can store multiple eBooks in the same USB and access/reproduce them in the tactile terminal without this being plugged to a computer. The first Braille terminal developed is a 10-cell prototype based on a piezoelectric ultrasonic actuation approach. Its overall performance is quite similar to the one obtained with traditional Braille terminals. However, unlike them, the full device is only 1 kg mass and its compact dimensions (20 × 15 × 10 cm) make it easily carried by the user. A technical overview of all subsystems is presented and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Mechatronics and Control Systems Lab (MCS), Universidad Panamericana, 20290, Aguascalientes, Mexico. rvelazquez@ags.up.mx
authors.forename: Ramiro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Velazquez
authors.forename: Hermes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Preza
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003201:Computers; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D011932:Reading; D012682:Sensory Aids; D012984:Software; D014110:Touch; D014584:User-Computer Interface