Monarch by humanware and American printing house for the blind

By Blind soft, 13 August, 2025

Forum
Assistive Technology
Hello. As a braille user, I like using braille note devices, especially the Braille note touch plus. However, I have been interested in a new human wear and APH product, the monarch, a multiline brow display that can produce tactile graphics. In my opinion, this is truly futuristic, the fact that we have graphics at our finger tips, literally. Anyway, I have a few questions. What is it like to use a multiline braille display? Is it a good experience? And more importantly, what do you see in the future for monarch. Thank you.

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Comments

By Oliver on Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 07:57

I'd probably like to see a split between brail and tactile graphics. I don't know if we need quite the resolution they are going for or, maybe more accurately, it would be nice to have a choice for something cheaper and less precise. There are technologies out there that, though not great for brail, could be good for tactile graphics which is a lot cheaper.

By Blind soft on Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 10:57

That is true. Why does human wear have to price it so expensive, why not? Just make the monarch mini or the braille note graphics or something like that. Maybe braille note touch +2.

By Holger Fiallo on Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 14:43

Probably more than my mortgage.

By Oliver on Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 17:05

I think it's kicking around the $13,000 mark.

I do understand the cost restraints. It's a really low quantity item which doesn't benefit from economy of scale. One of the reasons iPhones aren't even more ridiculous money is Tim Cook is a genius when it comes to production lines, scaling and working within the envelope of what they actually want and can produce.

Generally, accessibility devices are expensive and ugly. Why can't we have a little style in our kit? The Mantis is a cheap block of plastic with a cheap keyboard on it. The BI20X isn't much better. Where's the brushed aluminium? Wheres the exciting tactility in something that costs three times a Macbook Air with a fraction of the functionality? 13 times the price when it comes to the Monark.

I just don't like it when I feel we're treated as anything less than a paying customer. The experience should be spot on, no matter who you are. My dealings with Humanware were, and this is being charitable, inefficient. Seemed like lovely people, but it was bundling all the way through. Error with the site and a discount they'd been advertising, and various other issues. You'd not get that at apple and this, again, is an example of really expensive equipment. I want to feel safe when I'm dropping that sort of cash... I want to feel a little special too... For once in my life, or special in the right way.

Sorry, bit of a rant. As usual.

By Holger Fiallo on Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 20:40

I am curious what is the real cost of the device. Parts and so on. It probably was made in a third world nation where the labor is cheap.

By Travis Roth on Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 21:45

At least so far to my knowledge, screen readers are not supporting multiline Braille well. For example, the Orbit Slate will connect to NVDA but NVDA just dumps a longer line to it. So yes you get more Braille but you don't get actual multiple lines of a document, or a table, or other things I think should be possible. I noticed in the latest NVDA update they added some support for Monarch's cursor routing, so they are at least aware of it. Perhaps now that HumanWare has a device screen readers will start innovating as HumanWare is a larger and more significant partner. For now though even with the Monarch I imagine its best use is book reading with APH's books and inline images and stuff. Screen reader for efficient and effective multiline use is not here yet.

By Blind soft on Friday, August 15, 2025 - 12:59

This is ridiculous to say but the actual price of the monarch is 17,995 pounds, technically 18,000 pounds. That is more than buying an iPhone 16 Pro Max 18 times over. More than buying an apple Vision Pro five times and possibly even half but I’m apple Vision Pro. It is ridiculous. in US it is $17,995 as well.

By Holger Fiallo on Friday, August 15, 2025 - 22:23

Agree. That is why I asked the question of cost and parts and how much it truly cost.

By Jason White on Saturday, August 16, 2025 - 00:19

I have access to a Monarch. It's so much better than a single-line braille display for my use cases, which include reading a lot of text. Screen reader support is expected soon (how long it will take for Apple to release this feature remains to be determined).

My advice is to try a Monarch in demonstration, or borrow one if you can, then decide. Explore any funding options that may be available to you via government schemes or private sources such as grants or scholarships. Even a low-interest loan might be appropriate depending on your financial position, but you'll need to evaluate based on your needs and financial circumstances.

I'm on record elsewhere as saying, and I'll repeat it here, that I would buy one myself if I didn't have access to a Monarch via a funded project. Having used a Monarch for a while, I wouldn't want to go back to using single-line displays only.

The Monarch is primarily intended for what has been referred to as the "funded market" - situations in which governments or organizations such as educational institutions, rather than the users themselves, meet the purchase cost. There are, of course, some individuals who have bought Monarch devices out of their own funds. The braille display mechanism and the custom software development involved are all expensive. The product is expensive for a reason.