Brussels / 3 & 4 February 2024

schedule

From hackathon idea to hackaday prize - How we make a Braille embosser.


Making Braille documents for unsighted people has been a topic for a long time in makers movement. From BraillGO to Open Braille, many projects tried to produce Braille documents, with some success and some fails.

In 2016 My Human Kit, a french non profit organization organize a hackathon where they start with customized 3D printer and a piece a software that translate text into Braille and Braille into GCODE. In 2017 all these poc and tests was the start of the BrailleRAP project, bringing a fully documented open source Braille embosser with accessible software. Braille embosser succesfully re-built in many countries, from Argentina to Buthan, passing by France, Belgium and Cameroun.

From the first prototype in early 2018 to the lastest version in 2023, we will discuss about what failed and what was great improvments. We will focus on the documentation and assembly guide, one of the most important topic of the project.

At the end we will discuss about Workshop to build BrailleRAP. In most aspect, BrailleRAP is a Fablab standard workshop, with an exception, you need a Braille reader to validate the build. And most of Braille reader are unsighted ! Which opportunities are open by building accessibility devices in workshop ?

Speakers

Photo of Stephane Godin Stephane Godin

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