This project aims to design a low cost Braille typewriter. The basic idea is to use electronics components and 3D printing to reduce the cost of a Braille typewriter around $1000 to $100.

In summer of 2013, I spent a few weeks teaching kids in a visually impaired school in Kenya. I was very surprisded to know that a Braille typewriter, which looks very much like the old 19th century mechanical ordinary typewriter, costs more than $1000. This is ridiculous! At this price, you can buy an iPhone with the highest configuration!

I did a bit of research to find out why a Brailler is so expensive and it turns out to be limited market size. Economy-of-scale fails for a small market. That's where 3D printing comes in. I hope by combining electronics components and 3D printed parts, we can reduce the cost of a Brailler significantly. Ideally, it should use off-the-shelf components so that anyone with the access to electronics store and 3D printers can easily build it. This is still a high entry barrier for poor countries, but I think it's a good starting point.