The first Braille engraving machine in China! Will family education for blind students usher in a new dawn?

At a Wuhan exhibition to help the blind, a chemistry teacher at a blind school tried hard to use a needle tip to poke the shape of a beaker on paper, guiding students to perceive through touch. After the students smoothed the paper, the teacher repeated the previous operation, just to make the students truly understand the three-dimensional outline of the beaker.

When talking about the original intention of developing the Braille engraving machine, Yu Zhi, director of the Digital Intelligence and Accessibility Joint Laboratory of Zhejiang University Binjiang Research Institute, shared an experience that deeply touched him and made him realize the challenges of graphic understanding in blind students' learning and teachers' teaching.

In the Digital Intelligence Empowered Education Service Exhibition Area of ​​Zhejiang University Binjiang Research Institute, there is an innovative achievement in the field of technology to help the blind - a Braille engraving machine. As the first lightweight Braille engraving machine in China for special education, it works in conjunction with the Chinese-Blind two-way translation platform to provide educational convenience for blind schools and blind families.

It used to be difficult to typeset text and graphics together. Photo by a reporter from Chao News

Yu Zhi introduced: "Blind engraving machines have long relied on foreign imports, and are large-scale equipment. The cheapest ones cost 80,000 to 90,000 yuan, and the most expensive ones cost more than 800,000 yuan, which are not suitable for home use." How to realize home Braille engraving machines has become the team's focus.

In order to benefit more families, the team simplified the machine's functions and achieved a breakthrough in technology. "Previous printers printed line by line, which was more suitable for text, but could not print graphics related to science teaching. This Braille engraving machine uses sub-millimeter control accuracy, which can print fine curves according to the path of the graphics." Yu Zhi explained.

Braille engraving machine engraving effect (Photo provided by the interviewee)

In addition, the noise level of some lightweight products abroad reaches 100 decibels, while this Braille engraving machine is only 70 decibels, which meets the national requirement that the noise level of equipment used in office places should not exceed 75 decibels. It is of office desk level type, which greatly expands the future application scope of the product.

Behind the development of this Braille engraving machine lies the pain point of blind education for a long time. Yu Zhi talked about the story behind his idea of ​​developing this device. In 2017, he began to cooperate with Zhejiang School for the Blind and Zhejiang Vocational College of Special Education to carry out research on assisting the blind. During the epidemic, he learned about a blind student who had excellent grades but could not keep up with the school's learning progress due to isolation. His parents looked for tutors everywhere but could not find suitable candidates. This made him feel the difficulty of family education for blind students.

For the education of blind students, the one-to-many teaching mode of ordinary teachers is no longer applicable. Education for the blind places high demands on teachers to teach students in accordance with their aptitude and requires them to adjust the teaching mode at any time. However, most parents do not have this skill, so the current education of blind students mainly relies on school education.

"Blind students basically live in school and have a high need to communicate with teachers. Parents want to participate but are mostly unable to do so. They can only provide more help in daily life." Yu Zhi mentioned that it is difficult for parents of blind students to participate in their children's education, and the Braille engraving machine makes up for this shortcoming.

In use, parents only need to upload a text to the translation platform, and the platform will automatically convert Chinese characters into Braille, and then start the engraving machine to print. For graphics, they only need to upload the corresponding file, and then select the required mode in pure outline engraving, fill engraving, etc., and they can automatically convert it into Braille and engrave it.

In terms of training for the blind, the team also provides relevant teaching resources. Among the blind students, there is a distinction between congenital blindness and acquired blindness. Compared with the later blind group, the congenitally blind group cannot quickly understand the concept of shape because they have never seen graphics. The team has built an educational resource library for the blind, which includes commonly used graphics from kindergarten to high school and materials to help understand, opening up the link from training to application.

Blind students try out the Braille engraving machine. Photo provided by the interviewee

Since its launch in June this year, this Braille engraving machine has been supported by the China Braille Publishing House. In the subsequent trial phase, the team and the publishing house launched a trial activity for blind people across the entire network, attracting the active participation of more than 100 families. After the technical breakthroughs, the Braille engraving machine is priced at 4,980 yuan, which is 90% cheaper than imported ones. More than 30 units have been officially ordered.

Behind this is the technological breakthrough achieved by Yu Zhi and his team of undergraduate classmates from Zhejiang University, based on their deep understanding of the needs of blind students. When talking about the future prospects of the product, Yu Zhi said: "I hope that this device can be put into use in blind families or public places as much as possible, to help more blind people receive better education and have a better future."

Journalist's Observation Notes

In today's era of rapid technological development and growing humanistic care, the field of education for people with disabilities is undergoing a profound transformation, and a series of innovative products have emerged.

Educational innovations for the hearing-impaired are particularly significant. As high-tech "ears", smart hearing aids can automatically adapt to different sound environments through advanced digital signal processing technology, noise reduction and speech enhancement technology. Speech-to-text software uses the real-time transcription function of quickly converting continuous speech streams into text to efficiently acquire knowledge and information.

For the visually impaired, the innovation of educational products is mainly reflected in the development of barrier-free technology and equipment. The design of screen readers converts the text content on the electronic screen into clear and fluent speech, enabling visually impaired students to read electronic books freely.

Recently, the "Within Reach" barrier-free braille keyboard and examination system independently developed by a team of disabled college students from the School of Special Education of Beijing Union University uses 3D printing technology to make keycaps to ensure the durability and clarity of braille dots, and has been ergonomically optimized in many aspects, greatly improving the comfort of use. This keyboard supports braille input, allowing blind students to input braille independently and accurately, and is suitable for a variety of examination scenarios.

The emergence of these educational products not only demonstrates the power of science and technology, but also reflects the concern for the educational rights of people with disabilities, so that they are no longer alone in their pursuit of knowledge.