A Way to Make Touch-based Operating Screens Blind-accessible

Summary

Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) is a nonprofit organization that seeks to provide meaningful career opportunities for the blind. However, on factory equipment in particular, touchscreen-based operating screens frequently lack accessibility features.  

We were challenged to make the tasks accomplished through touchscreens accessible to people with impaired vision. We developed a blind accessible device that can be connected as an add-on or replacement for a visual interface that communicates directly with the machinery’s programmable logic. We have designed our device to be compatible with a user’s preferred accessible device (such as a braille reader or text-to-speech converter) and to be easily modifiable for a variety of machines.