The Dot Book – first laptop for the blind
The Scientists studying in the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi constructed ‘DotBook’, India’s first Braille Laptop for Blind people in the country. It is framed with dots or the Braille format and not the one which is operated visually.Scientists namely Pulkit Sapra, 26, from Delhi and Suman Muralikrishnan, 27, from Chennai studying in IIT Delhi, constructed the laptop choosing to move out from the placement drive and continue researching on the laptop from the last 5 years. The students launched two editions of the laptop, one with the 20 cell edition and another with 40 cell edition, referring to the number of characters displayed in one line.
The laptop displays no screen just characters in Braille on a touchpad. Through this laptop, the visually-impaired can feel the webpage or screen they search for. Sapra was a student pursuing B.Tech Mechanical and Murlikrishnan pursuing MS (Research) from IIT Delhi. They were working for this project in collaboration with KritiKal Solutions, Pheonix Medical Systems, and Saksham Trust.
The Laptop comprises of 4 GB internal storage which can be expanded up to 64 GB. It was built in Linux. The 20-Cell Braille Variant has Perkins Keys while the 40-Cell Braille Variant with QWERTY keyboard. The 40 cell edition is worth Rs 60,000 and the 20 cell edition is worth Rs 40,000. The laptop can be connected with mobile phones and other laptops for sighted persons to access as well.
The Institute has decided to distribute some free laptops to underprivileged students.