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The world's first braille smartwatch for blind and visually impaired people has been created. It's called the Dot and it finally fills a gap in the smartwatch market – perhaps a gap that you didn't even know was there – yet 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide and 39 million of these people are fully blind.
Previous watches and smartwatches for the blind and visually impaired people have relied on audio prompts – the Dot is the first of its kind to display braille text. The watch face can show four characters on the screen at a time.
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Although, at face value, it may sound simple enough, it took three years of development – possibly because the company had to find a way to protect the tiny braille dots as well as making sure they remained tactile. As well as reading the screen, people can also send replies and answer calls – as well as some other functions that most people take for granted - using the watch's side buttons.
The watch is the brainchild of founder and CEO of the company, Eric Kim. He had the idea when he noticed that a blind classmate was carrying large, bulky books to class while most students were using tablets. After learning that these were braille textbooks, he was "shocked" to realize that this student couldn't take advantage of new, modern technology.
"The reality is that inclusive information access is limited by cost barriers and lack of innovations," the website states. "While many products are designed exclusively for the majority, our visually impaired communities can't benefit from much of its advances."
The company will begin to deliver its watches as of this month, March 2017 – to 140,000 product backers and this will take until next year to complete. For companies who didn't pre-order the watch, there will be a smaller batch of 1,000 watches available in shops for about $320 – about £259.
The company also places value on education for less-sighted people, particularly in developing countries – about 75% of the world's blind population is located in Africa and Asia and Dot has been involved with braille education for visually impaired children in these places. They have worked to improve the braille literacy rates by an average of over 90% - and as a new project, they are planning to provide the "Dot Mini" to visually impaired people in Kenya.
To pre-order the watch or just to find out more and show your support this truly brilliant initiative, take a look at the website: https://dotincorp.com/
