Social Innovation
Lebraile is a portable device that converts digital text into Braille tactile language.
With the mission to facilitate the teaching and learning of the Braille language, Computer Science students Paulo Porto and Cristiano Moraes created a system that can make texts from computers, tablets or smartphone accessible to the visually impaired.
The system is able to read digital text files (pdf, doc and txt), translate them to Braille, and send them to a handheld portable device. This device automatically projects the text into Braille using tactile buttons.
Lebraile participated in the Red Bull Basement Residency in Brazil and developed an open source 1.0 version, which enables anyone to assemble their own Lebraile. Their website offers the step by step instructions, descriptive parts, assembly template, and 3D printing files for the device. Lebraile’s website is also meant to be used by teachers and even libraries for the translation and distribution of digital content on tactile devices.
Our motivation was to take Braille reading wherever you need it, in a simple, easy and inexpensive way
About Red Bull Basement Residency
Red Bull Basement Residency is a program designed to support to technology based projects with a social impact. For two months, four teams had the opportunity to develop their projects, always assisted by the experience of mentors and a digital manufacturing laboratory.
Paulo and Cristiano were able to make their project a reality thanks to the mentorship and access to maker tools they received. “We arrived at the Residency with a non-functional prototype and we left with a product. This is priceless.”