STEM II

In the brainstorming phase of this project, my team and I conceptualized a device that would use three individual gears to produce each row of braille in a cell. The pros of this design concept included precise braille formulation, a fewer number of rotations needed to complete a character, and a slim and portable design. However, a few of the cons of this design included the inner parts being too intricate to develop at a small scale, and an additional mechanism needed to engage the motors. Thus, we decided to develop Design Concept II.

The advantages of Design Concept II included its ability to display all eight combinations for half a Braille cell, its effectiveness as a proof of concept, and its compact and inexpensive design. However, there were also significant drawbacks. The use of cardboard resulted in imprecision, it was difficult to connect to a motor, and an additional mechanism was required to keep the Braille pins raised.

The final prototype design is a movable braille slider held within a box-like container. The design features six rod-like modules held in place so that their horizontal movement is restricted but their vertical movement is not. The rods are inside six holes in the surface, such that when a rod is sticking up, it acts as a “bump” in a standard braille cell, and when the rod is down, it acts as a vacant space. Inside the device, two rectangular boxes connected to gears can slide horizontally within the container, each with a track of the same width as the rods so that the rods can be moved up and down along the track.