How would you tell time if you were blind? I mean, aside from implanting cybernetic eyes so you could look at a clock. Right, exactly — you'd get yourself a Braille watch. Conceived by David Chavez, the Haptica Braille watch lets the visually impaired check the time without relying on someone (or something) telling it to them.
The great thing about Chavez's design (sadly just a concept at the moment) is that it doesn't rely on any pie-in-the-sky technology or radical ideas — the Braille dots are on tiny disks that are positioned so only half the disk shows, with the other half covered. As the seconds, minutes and hours tick by, the disks slowly rotate, changing the dot pattern. Overall it's a great idea, not to mention pretty classy looking. We hope it becomes a reality soon.
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Tuvie, via Medlaunches
editor@dvice.com
By damisa at 10:13 AM ON 05/27/08
Out of curiosity, does the designer of this watch know that there are braille watches already available -- and they don't require you to actually read braille in order to use them (which is good for someone who needs a tactile timepiece, but who cannot read braille just yet). The designer of this watch should probably see what is already out there before reinventing the wheel... Just a thought...
By zenebier at 11:09 AM ON 10/13/08
hmm so the plates will rotate to give the number of embossed dots to represent the digit? will it be accurate? i mean, the embossed dots' position plays a vital role in determining what character the braille represents. but this thing is really great, hope this will become a reality..