Optical Character Reader of a Braille Unicode System for the Blind
Arvin R. De La Cruz1, Reginald D. Legaspi2, Zildjian L. Mergilla3, Marc Oliver P. Otawa4
1Arvin R. De La Cruz, Department of Computer Engineering, College of Engineering Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila.
2Reginald D. Legaspi, Department of Computer Engineering, College of Engineering Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila.
3Zildjian L. Mergilla, Department of Computer Engineering, College of Engineering Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila.
4Marc Oliver P. Otawa, Department of Computer Engineering, College of Engineering Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila.
Manuscript received on 02 June 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 27 June 2019 | Manuscript Published on 04 July 2019 | PP: 104-107 | Volume-8 Issue-1S4 June 2019 | Retrieval Number: A10200681S419/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: This study aspires to innovate braille system by applying the fast coping technological advancement of the world to it. Braille is a code – a system of dots that represents the letters of the alphabet and that visually impaired individuals can use to read independently. As Braille Technology is fast growing, more and more people with visual impairment cannot afford to bought one. Thus, the proponents created a prototype, a portable and a lot cheaper braille device that will help individuals and institutions for their reading challenges. The proponents created a braille display that comes up with a scanner that will scan physical text documents then process it to become an output as a braille cell. It also comes up with a text-to-speech conversion which will become an option for the involved person on what will he or she chooses as an output. This is made possible by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology that the proponents used in Raspberry Pi. The OCR is responsible for the image processing that will convert the image captured into a text file. The text file will then be processed again to send signal to the servo motor that is responsible for pushing the braille cells needed. The device also includes motor guide for correct scanning of the physical text documents. The device will perform the task quickly that will surely help visually impaired individuals to easily read reading materials. This system is conducted to provide another solution on problems about reading for blind and visually impaired individuals and to provide cheaper device for them. It will contribute not only to the community involved but also in the technological industry in the Philippines.
Keywords: Braille, Optical Character Recognition, Raspberry Pi, Braille, Unicode System, Optical Character Reader.
Scope of the Article: Optical and High-Speed Access Networks