Prototype Design of Electronic Braille Embosser

Francine Joy O. Aceron, Gerald D. de Leyola, and Kenneth M. Miranda, “Prototype Design of an Electronic Braille Embosser”. Unpublished study for the degree Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering, College of Engineering, Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation, March 2015 Special Education is a program for teaching persons with disabilities. One of them is the visually impaired which they teach by means of Braille, a system of writing for the blind. Braille writing can be done manually and electronically. Existing teaching facilities uses manually operated device because an electronic device was too expensive. With this issue, the proponents of this study conceptualized the idea of making an “Electronic Braille Embosser” to help the visually impaired and their respective schools. The prototype is composed of a hardware device and a software application. The device is composed of a solenoid that serves as the print head that will emboss characters into a paper. An Atmega328 microcontroller that will interpret commands sent by the software and stepper motors that will enable movement from the x and y axis. The software application will serve as a graphical user interface. It is made in such a way that most of the people can operate regardless of their knowledge in Braille. The user is only required to input typical alphabet and the software will automatically convert it to Braille symbols. In the actual testing of the fabricated device it has proven its capability to emboss characters into a paper and was able to be operated using the software application. Testing results shows that the device can accurately emboss the exact Braille symbols generated in the software application. In successfully operating the device, making a low cost Braille Embosser has been concluded both the researchers and respondents.