Abstract:

The Braille system is an important instrument for the learning and autonomy of visually impaired (VI) people in the reading and writing process. Several Assistive Technology (AT) resources arise and evolve every day, such as audiobooks, digital books and screen readers that have been contributing to the acquisition of knowledge by VI students, however, they do not replace the importance of literacy in Braille System that enables the understanding of the text structure, punctuation and spelling rules, which cannot be perceived by students only by listening. One cannot forget the importance of reading and writing in Braille for blind students, just as we cannot do without reading and writing for sighted students. VI people who have knowledge of Braille have a better knowledge of grammar and spelling, in addition to a better development of fine motor skills and touch. Of the the existing technologies to help in the Braille learning process, the Braille typewriter is one of the interesting options, for being more comfortable and efficient, if compared to other solutions such as the slate and stylus, for allowing faster tactile feedback and for allowing the Braille writing with the simultaneous touch of the keys. Even considering the relevance of Braille and of Braille typewriter for Braille learning, it is not an accessible tool for a large part of the target audience, considering the high cost required for its acquisition. Ensuring inclusion and accessibility for VI people, as well as other people with disabilities or diverses difficulties, is a duty of the state and of all citizens. In this perspective, thinking, proposing and/or providing the development of teaching strategies or tools and devices that promote the learning of Braille, a communicational language for VI people, is a way to instrumentalize and include them in society. In this scenario, this article proposes the development of Litera Braille, a low-cost device for writing and reading Braille, similar to the Braille typewriter. This device is being developed considering the Design Thinking paradigms, user-centered development methodology. For the physical structure of the Litera Braille, is being used as the basis a open source project of a Braille embosser in laser cut MDF with the necessary alterations. The technologies used are: the Braillestick device (Santana, 2021) which is a Braille character input keyboard; the Braille Embosser Laser Cut as a base structure for marking the Braille characters on the paper; 3 servomotors on the print head, for marking the dots of the Braille Cell; 2 stepper motors, one for moving the paper and the other for moving the print head over the paper positions; and an Arduino ATmega 2560 prototyping board to control the electromechanical components, besides receiving and processing the signals related to the Braillestick keys. Functional tests were executed with the print head, from the actuation of the Braillestick's Keys and which allowed marking of Braille dots on the paper, as expected. The current phase of the project is to finalize the assembly of the Litera Braille and to evaluate the referred device using the case study as a research method, to evaluate acceptance and usability based on the user's experience.

Keywords:

Visually impaired people, Knowledge, Braille, Braille typewriter, Design Thinking.