As part of the European project Blindpad, researchers at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed a touchable tablet to help people with visual impairments find their way around unfamiliar places, as well as teach visually-impaired children learn subjects like geometry and math.
The reportedly lightweight and reconfigurable touchscreen tablet can generate shapes and maps, which users then "read" on the screen with their fingers. Measuring 12 by 15 centimeters in size, the tablet reportedly features 192 tiny buttons that move up and down in a few milliseconds, almost instantaneously creating patterns such as the layout of a building, street or conference room. Users can also zoom in on a specific area of the map.
Additionally, researchers are reportedly looking to use the touchable tablet to help teach visually-impaired school children geometry as the tablet can be connected to the classroom board to instantly reproduce all the shapes and graphics drawn by the teacher.
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