TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
OF WORTH TRUST, KATPADI
A PRESENTATION
BY
Col.K.RADHAKRISHNAN
MANAGING DIRECTOR, WORTH TRUST, KATPADI
TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
LET US FIRST LOOK AT THE MIND-BOGGLING FIGURES OF
INDIA’S POPULATION OF THE DISABLED
Type of Disability
Locomotor
Visual
Hearing
Speech
Mental
Census, 2001 (in lakhs)
61.05
106.35
12.62
16.41
22.64
Total
219.07
THE STARTING POINT FOR ENABLING THE DISABLED IN
THE COUNTRY IS PROVIDE THEM WITH DEVICES THAT
HELP THEM TO SEE, HEAR AND MOVE AND THEREBY
ACQUIRE LITERACY, EDUCATION AND SKILLS TO EARN A
LIVING.
TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
OF WORTH TRUST, KATPADI
WORTH TRUST, KATPADI IS A UNIQUE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
THAT FULFILLS ALL THESE BASIC REQUIREMENTS. IT IS UNIQUE IN
THAT IT RECRUITS, TRAINS AND EMPLOYS DISABLED PERSONS IN
TO ENGAGE IN INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES, AND IN MANUFACTURE OF
DISABILITY PRODUCTS FOR THE DISABLED. AND USES PROFITS
FROM THE FORMER ACTIVITY, TO MAKE ITS DISABILITY PRODUCTS
AVAILABLE TO THE DISABLED AT NO-PROFIT PRICES.
THESE PRODDUCTS ARE MADE TO INTERNATIONAL QUALITY,
INTERNATIONAL SPEIFICATIONS BUT AT A FRACTION OF
INTERNATIONAL PRICES
LET US LOOK AT SOME OF OUR PRODUCTS, NOW
AVAILABLE OR UNDER DEVELOPMENT.
TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
TWO IMPORTANT EXAMPLES OF ESTABLISHED PRODUCTS
(1) THE PERKINS BRAILLER : THIS IS A PRODUCT OF
PERKINS, USA, THE WORLD’S LEADING MAKER OF
BRAILLERS, OUT-SOURCED BY FOR ASSEMBLY BY
WORTH TRUST IN KATPADI. WE OFFER IT IN INDIA FOR
US$ 275, FOR US$ 450 IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
AGAINST THE US AND DEVELOPED COUNTRY PRICE OF
US$ 690
(2) THE UNIVERSAL BRAILLE KIT : THIS IS AN ORIGINAL
WORTH PRODUCT. IT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED IN DETAIL
IN THE LAST PRESENTATION. WE OFFER IT AT A UNIT
PRICE OF US$ 10, WHILE THE COMPONENTS SOURCED
IN THE USA OR ANYWHERE ABROAD WOULD TOGETHER
COST AROUND US$ 100.
TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
AN IMPORTANT EXAMPLE OF A NEW PRODUCT
THE DIRECT SLATE
THE DIRECT SLATE IS A PATH BREAKING INVENTION OF AN AMERICAN
WELL-WISHER NAMED LARRY HAWK WHO HAS GIFTED TO US THE
PLASTIC MOULD EQUIPMENT FOR ITS PRODUCTION BY WORTH
TRUST.
A SIMPLE DESIGN APPROACH REPLACES THE PITS BY RAISED DOTS
IN THE TRADITIONAL SLATE SURFACE, AND THE SOLID ROUNDED
PIN TIP OF THE CONVENTIONAL STYLUS IS REPLACED BY A
HOLLOW CUPPED TIP. THEREBY, THE PUNCHING ACTION ON THE
PAPER SHEET CREATES RAISED DOTS INSTEAD OF DEPRESSED
DOTS. IMPORTANTLY, THIS CHANGE MEANS THAT BRAILLE CAN BE
WRITTEN, NORMALLY WITHOUT LATERAL INVERSION AND FROM
LEFT TO RIGHT.
THIS NEW SLATE WILL BECOME PART OF FUTURE UBKs
THE NEW SLATE WILL NOW BE AVAILABLE FOR US$ 3
AGAINST THE US PRICE OF US$ 30
TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
ANOTHER IMPORTANT EXAMPLE OF A NEW PRODUCT
THE NINA UNIVERSAL BRAILLE TEACHER
THIS IS A SMALL BOX, WHICH HAS 6 SWITCHES, NUMBERED 1 TO 6, FOR ENTRY OF BRAILLE CODES
FOR A LANGUAGE PROVIDED IN READY RECKONER CARD. DOR EXAMPLE, IF ONE PRESSES THE
SWITCHES 1-2-3-ENTER, WHICH IS THE CODE FOR THE LETTER L, THE BOX WILL SPEAK THE
CODE AND LETTER OF THE LANGUGE. WE NOW HAVE BOXES FOR
ENGLISH, HINDI, PUNJABI, TAMIL, MALAYALAM AND ARABIC,
DOT 1-2-3 IS THE CODE FOR L OR ITS EQUIVLENT IN ALL THESE LANGUAGES.
THIS PRODUCT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR Rs 700 or USS 20 AND IT WILL BE VERY USEFUL AS IT CAN
BE SHARED BY ALL AS A CLASSROOM RESOURCE
LET ME NOW REQUEST LAKSHMI TO GET AFROSE TO DEMONSTRATE THE USE OF THIS UNIT
THE NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
A PATH-BREAKING PRODUCT UNDER
DEVELOPMENT NEARING COMPLETION
THE NATESAN REFRESHABLE BRAILLE DISPLAY
This will enable reading by the blind of of braille versions of
all text downloads from the Internet. The price of this product
will be around Rs 2000, not the US$ 2000 plus that now
obtains for conventional Refreshable Braille Display offered
in today’s market.
THE NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
OUR NEXT MAJOR DEVICE
THE NATESAN BRAILLE PRINTER
This is planned as an add-on enhancement to the
Natesan Refreshable Display Unit .
It consists of a paper carriage mechanism sitting
on top of the Natesan Refreshable Display, where
a sheet of braille paper can be pressed down on
the text reading line of the Display, as and when
each refreshed line of text is formed. This is what
is to become the Natesan Braille Printer
This Braille Printer will be available at an add-on
price of Rs 400, not the US$ 4000 plus, that now
obtains for the conventional Braille Printer
offered in today’s market.
THE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE FOR THE BLIND
A new Path Breaking Project
An Industrial Workshop Unit for the Blind
This is a unique path-breaking Project designed and
under implementation now at Worth Trust by
Ted Moallem, a PhD scholar of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, USA.
Let me introduce Ted at this point and request him to make
a brief presentation of this Project. As he has not been able
to make it to Chennai to make this presentation in person,
we have arranged him to make from Boston through a
Skype international telephonic conference connection
Blind
Lead
Initiative
www.blindlead.org
Ted Moallem
(moallem@mit.edu)
Blind Lead Initiative
An Industrial Workshop Unit for the Blind
This is what I believe may be a unique path-breaking
Initiative to establish an Industrial Workshop Unit for the
blind.
A team of 4 - 6 blind persons are now being trained at
Worth Trust, Katpadi to acquire industrial workshop skills
to be able to themselves make affordable devices to serve
the needs of the blind across the world. They would handle
production at all stages starting from the basic stage
processing of the raw materials to building the
components, and finally assembling and finishing them as
final products. All the equipment to handle the processes
at all stages are specially designed to enable handling by
the blind workers themselves, without any compromise on
safety standards, and to result in meaningful products for
the blind.
Blind Lead Initiative
Motivation
Establish a model for production,
distribution, and ongoing development
of low-cost
tactile and Braille literacy
technologies...
...sustainable through the initiative and
efforts of blind and low-vision
individuals
Blind Lead Initiative
An Industrial Workshop Unit for the Blind
The first product of this Unit is the
Blind-Lead Braille-It Labeller
This is a pocket device, that enables the blind user to enter braille
codes through a set of small buttons on its side that will produce
labels on adhesive tape that will emerge from the top. The labels can
be fixed (and later removed when no longer needed) on any object : a
book, medicine bottle, doorway etc) to provide its identity to the blind
user.
It will become available world-wide at a price of less than US$ 5 which
would be less than one-tenth the price of commercial equivalents
available today.
Its importance also lies in its being a fore-runner to further useful
devices for the blind, like note-takers etc.
Braille-It Labeler
Features:
1.Pocket-sized
2. One-handed operation
3. language-independent
4. embosses durable Braille
on ordinary clear tape
5. Mechanical simplicity
6. Common hardware parts
7. Local maintenance/repair
Applications:
1. Quickly label food packaging,
medicine containers, media
devices, CDs,
householdappliances, etc.
2. Label borrowed items or
novel locations without
obscuring visual markings
3. Record contact information
and paste into a notebook
4. Record personal reminder
and paste onto oneself!
Production
Braille-It labeler designed with the primary
goal
of enabling safe and effective construction
by a team of visually-impaired workers.
Workshop facility for blind and low-vision
workers
to open this summer at WORTH Trust in
Katpadi!
Construction methods include:
sheet metalwork, wire-shaping, press-fitting,
hole-punching, rivet/screw-fastening
Blind Lead Initiative
Acknowledgments
N.Krishnaswamy
Vidya Vrikshah
T.G.Venkatesh and K.Radhakrishnan
WORTH Trust, Katpadi
Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg
International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs (IISE)
Matthew McGarvey
MIT/Sloan School of Management
THE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE FOR
THE BLIND
With that, let me close
and say
THANK YOU