The benefits of technology
Technology exists to help make tasks easier and more accessible. While it can be difficult staying up to date with the latest technological trends, most would agree that technology serves some beneficial purpose in their life.
Technology can also help serve those with physical or learning disabilities. One of the more recent examples of this was the release of The Dot, which is a smartwatch developed for blind and visually impaired individuals.
What’s out there now
Currently there are no smart watches for seeing-impaired people. There are over 285 million people who are visually impaired.
This watch has the potential to empower an entire people group.
There are a few companies making watches that tell time using similar braille features but they are no where near the advancement that a smart braille watch can and will be.
The Dot
Created by South Korean developer, Dot, this piece is the world’s first smartwatch equip with Braille.
It uses four active dynamic Braille cells, which allows its user to choose the speed at which its characters update.
The Dot has the capability to receive any text from any type of app and can send messages by use of buttons on the side of the watch. Like other smartwatches, it connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth. An Open API allows anyone to develop apps for Dot utilization.
The future is near
In March of this year, The Dot will be delivered to around 140,000 people, including Stevie Wonder. “We strive to be a pioneer in accessible and affordable innovations for the vision-impaired and the deafblind, to lead independent lives,” their website reads.
[clickToTweet tweet=”The Dot is accessible with both iOS & Android and must be connected to a mobile device to work.” quote=”The Dot is accessible with both iOS and Android and must be connected to a mobile device in order to work.”]
The watch is made of 6000 series aluminum and is powered by a li-polymer 400mAh battery. It has a wireless MCU platform, Bluetooth LE 4.2, gyroscope, and a touch sensor.
It is currently available for preorder on The Dot’s website.
#WearablesThatMatter
