Team Giraffe, Giraffe Braille Puncher

Inspiration

We all wished for the blind to feel more included in our society, and language is very important in this aspect. Allowing the visually impaired to feel heard and understood. And braille is the easiest medium to do so. However, in our busy lives there is little time to learn a whole new language. Therefore, to make it simpler, we decided to make a braille puncher, allowing one's messages to be conversed to the visually impaired with ease. Later, it became an opportunity to market the braille puncher to parents who wanted their children to learn braille but had no time to learn it themselves.

What it does

A button is pressed on a keyboard for an alphabet or a space, the servo mechanisms punch in the first column of the braille sequence for that corresponding alphabet, then the stepper motor moves the paper to prepare for the next letter. If there is a second column then a stepper motor moves the paper and the braille puncher punches the second column, and the stepper motor moves again to prepare for the next letter being punched. If there is a space, then the stepper motor moves the paper for around the width of a letter.

Examples:

Letter with one column

1. The letter A is pressed.
2. The first servo punches a dot.
3. The stepper motor moves for the next letter to be punched.

Letter with 2 columns

1. The letter D is pressed.
2. The first and second servos punch dots.
3. The stepper motor moves a bit for the second column.
4. The first servo punches a dot.
5. The stepper motor moves to prepare for the next letter to be punched.

Space

1. The space button is pressed.
2. The stepper motor moves for about the width of a letter.

How we built it

• Trial and error
• Experimentation
• 4 failed 3D printer projects
• Arduino coding reference docs for stepper motor and servo
• Tinkercad for 3D modelling
• Vernier caliper for measurements
• Anycubic Mega S for 3D printing (thanks SUTD)

Challenges we ran into

• 3D printing slicing errors
• 3D model errors, measuring errors
• Time constraints
• Cable management
• Overcomplicating the whole thing
• Talon fried the circuit

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• finishing
• The code working
• Joining the hackathon

What we learned

"Try. It's like Dory saying 'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming'. [So just] try." - Talon

"Run to the makerspace first and don't try to be special." - Luke

• Arduino coding
• Properly handling tools like pliers (and the difference between pliers and wire cutters)

What's next for giraffe braille puncher

The whole thing is a very rough prototype/proof that it works sort of thing so from here it would be refining the punching mechanism, cleaning up the code, fixing the storage for the whole thing etc. and then from there it could be like optimising the space in the container/making it smaller, making an actual keyboard and display screen for the text you're punching in and then after that you could polish up the exterior/appearance of the container to make it look more Professionally Made. Lastly, we need to make it childsafe and user friendly.

Built With

• arduino
• tinkercad