There was an interview on Double Tap the other day with the people behind Annie (which is a braille learning machine targeted at schools)
They also talked about a new braille display called Tactera which is supposedly coming soon.
It is a 32 cell note taker with various apps installed on it. I believe it can also be used with a phone or computer. It has a d-pad (like the orbit) and 32 little buttons allowing you to put the cursor on a particular cell (like HumanWare displays) Stop me if I'm getting too technical. :)
It ticks the AI box of course, whatever that means in practice.
They also mentioned audio in the interview - I believe it has TTS. I'm not sure if it has a speaker or you need headphones and, if so, how they connect. For some reason this isn't listed in the specs.
They described it as "signage quality" braille. I presume this means that the tech will be similar to the Orbit Reader. I don't know if this means it'll be noisy and slow. The refresh rate is apparently <150 ms but I don't really know how that compares.
One of the most interesting things, though, is the price - they were talking about USD $1500 or possibly less. If they can hit this then I wonder if this makes it the cheapest braille display with audio, certainly with 32 cells.
I don't know if there is a subscription - AI features make me nervous here but hopefully, if there is, it would be just confined to those features.
My Orbit Reader is OK, but I do wish it had audio and I find the connectivity very patchy. I would hope that newer connectivity specs might make for a more reliable experience.
One thing that would have really been appealing to me was if they could have added some braille tutorials and games - ie taken some things from Annie but made them more useful to an adult and also in a device that isn't just limited to education. I think typically all braille displays expect you to be an expert in using them already and there isn't really anything with the novice in mind. I think a device that you could start out with, but then grow into would have been exactly what I wanted. I don't think this is that device, but I still emailed them this thought anyway.
I'm sure some of you know that I am a total novice when it comes to this kind of thing. I only use my Orbit for learning, and I have only ever tried a couple of HumanWare displays in passing so I don't really know what features are standard.
So, just wondering - has anyone else heard of this and what do you think?
For more info, see https://thinkerbelllabs.com/tactera#specs
Also the Double Tap interview can be found here: https://doubletaponair.com/annie-the-device-helping-blind-children-read-and-write-2/
Comments
Re: Tactera
Personally, If I can get a cheap braille Display that can connect your emails and allow you to work on your documents, especially an equivalent of word.
i do not want a cheap Braille display
So many people don't differentiate. As the subject line says, I do not want a cheap Braille display. I would, however, go for an inexpensive one. Cheap means not very well built, maybe made with inferior parts and workmanship, not very reliable, always needing repair be cause of what was previously mentioned. Also, I would not want speech output from a Braille display. I want it for Braille. Cut the cost by eliminating speech. These are just my thoughts, though.
Braillient bi 40 X for me
though this sounds encouraging, i am in the market for a Braillient BI 40 X from Humanware. a standard page of braille is twenty five lines and forty cells per line, thirty two cells doesn't sit right for me. plus, Humanware displays are reliable,, and have stood the test of time for many, many, years, the reliability is a must for me, considering good Braille displays such as the affore mentioned, cost $3200 Canadian , and I plan to purchase out of poket. sure, a cheeper Braille display sounds tempting, especially in the developing world, of which everything else is out of reach, I think the Orbit Reader was initially targeted towards this market, the reliability of those, from people who own them, are they frequently need repairs. things like pins not working correctly, so words don't show up, and the refresh sound, for me, are a dealbreaker, as I plan to move back to my home town, and resume my receptionist duties, i need a quiet display for that.
Re: cheap Braille Display
@By charles
+1 for your comment. "cheap" is not the best descriptor for a product one thinks is good or a distributor wants to sell! If @mr grieves thinks this is really a display worth considering, perhaps the subject line can be changed to replace "cheap" with "inexpensive".
--Pete
how afford
baffles me how people are affording £3000 or more for these products in the first place, it ripoff. anyway it will be interesting to see this product but if it is loud and noisy it won't be for most people, but as others have said, inexpensive/cheaf will mean constant repairs, no doubt.
Cheap vs inexpensive
I didn't realise cheap would be a triggering word so have adjusted the subject as suggested.
As I said, I don't know much about the world of braille. I seem to remember hearing that the Orbit displays were prone to faults in the beginning but became more reliable over time. I'm not sure if this is true or not - maybe someone else can confirm.
I think how you view the price probably depends on who is buying the device. I imagine that most braille displays are purchased through work, and therefore most people don't have to buy it themselves. Therefore it's OK for companies to charge a lot and consumers aren't that bothered.
However it's a different proposition if you are buying one of these for personal use. In my situation it is a learning tool because I doubt I will ever be competent enough to be productive but I'd like something that is easy to use and relatively cheap so I can enjoy the experience as much as possible.
My understanding is that other displays like the HumanWares, do have audio as well. The Orbit Reader does not which has limited my use of it. I am a little too scared to try to use its internal applications or settings because I can easily become unstuck.
I also get the impression that there are 2 main types of braille cell - the type used by most of the more expensive models, and then the signage quality used by Orbit Reader. I think the former must be more expensive to produce for some reason. The new Orbit displays use this and are much more expensive than the basic Reader 20. I don't know if the signage quality has to mean cheap and cheerful or whether it just allows the price to come down. A lower price does not have to mean poor quality - the Mac Neo does not seem to be a bad product, it just has its place.
I think whatever your stance on it, it is a good thing to have choice, particularly in the lower cost bracket. Anyway I will follow this one with interest and see where it goes.
@peter
I just re-read your comment. Just to be clear, I have nothing to do with this braille display - I just heard about it on a podcast and looked it up. I have no idea if it is worth buying or not. I was interested in the opinions of anyone more versed in the world of braille than me. I am not trying to persuade anyone to buy it or not, I just thought it might be worth a discussion.
Impressions from CSUN
Though I didn't feature the Tactera in my CSUN braille coverage I did check it out while at CSUN. What I found, at the time, was that the pins sometimes misfired. Something which could likely be addressed in a later prototype so that it doesn't happen. 32 cells is a happy medium for me in terms of portability and still being effective at reading, but pins that misfire somewhat regularly are a showstopper in my opinion. Hopefully they are already addressing this issue. This is just my personal observation from the short time I spent with it at the exhibit hall.
@Scott Davert
That doesn't sound great, but hopefully it can be fixed before it goes into production.
Aside from that, how was it? Did it feel cheap? Were the pins similar to Orbit? Did you notice how quickly the refresh was? I presume it would have been too noisy there to get any feeling for how loud it is.
From reading the specs and the interview,
Tactera
HI Mr. Grieves.
It was a bit bigger than an Orbit 40, mainly wider. The cellss refreshed fast enough, but pins were not coming up in random order. I can't comment on the noise, since it was in a crowded exhibit hall. In their defense, it was a prototype, and I'm hoping since they have the feedback, that whatever product ends up getting released will not suffer the same shortcoming. Will certainly keep tuned for further updates!