A scanning stand for smartphones that allows blind people to read printed materials independently for the first time.
Of the 150,000 people who are registered blind in the UK, only 20,000 can read braille, and huge amounts of printed content aren't available in braille, including letters, papers for work, plenty of books, food boxes, and even menus in restaurants.
The iPhone has the potential to give them access to all of this printed material, as it has excellent accessibility through VoiceOver, and apps that can turn photos into text, and then into speech, such as KNFB Reader, Prizmo, TextDetective and TextGrabber. The problem however is that a blind person can't see the viewfinder of the camera when they come to take a photo, so they inevitably miss the document they are trying to photograph every time.
The Giraffe Reader solves this problem by pointing the phone perfectly at the document below, in a tactile cradle that can be used eyes-free. It has a one-step assembly process, which again is totally eyes free, and has already had some rave reviews and started transforming the lives of blind people around the world, from Reunion to New Zealand.
Founded by RCA graduate Sam Jewell (MA Innovation Design Engineering), the venture joined the InnovationRCA incubator in 2015.
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