Visually impaired people who do not read Braille are excluded from engaging in situations where Braille options may suffice for their Braille-literate counterparts.

This project develops BraillePen, a prototype designed to read braille in the manner which is straightforward for people with low or no vision to operate. The concept is based on our preliminary proof-ofconcept prototype, Braille-Tip. It uses soft robotic methods to collect tactile data from its mechanical interface as it is passed over Braille bumps. This is then converted by an algorithm on a connected computer to English, which may be read aloud and saved for future recall.