See in complete darkness with touch

Stuff Made Here1 HN recommender · recommended in 1 month, 2020–2023

YouTube

demo · general · evergreen · 2020–2023 on HN

Stuff Made Here builds a device that lets a blind person perceive their surroundings by touch, using an iPad's lidar and a mechanical tactile display driven by motors. The video walks through the build and the limits he hit.

HN admires the maker's engineering and cites it in accessibility discussions, especially for the limits of sensory resolution versus perception.

3D printing, CNC & maker projects Mechanical & precision engineering #tactiledisplay #lidar #blindaccessibility #makerproject

3 comments from Hacker News

@sambroner2020-07 · in “I made a robot to cut my hair with scissors [video]”

This guy is a legend. Awesome videos. A few of them seem productizable in a way most DIY-er videos don't, albeit in a limited run capacity. He made a iPad lidar to "braille" converter that was really impressive, and I'm hopeful someone picks up the work. ▶ this video

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@ryankrage772023-01 · in “Ask HN: Alternatives to Scratch for a blind child?”

Would it be possible to use fewer motors to control more pins? 'Stuff Made Here' made a 12-point display using two motors. ▶ this video

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@open-paren2022-04 · in “A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight”

There was a Youtuber that made a device like this with the lidar from an iPad and a 3x3 grid of dots to detect obstacles. The problem he ran into was sensory resolution vs. ability to perceive that resolution. (Unsurpisingly) your eyes are unparalleled for picking up visual resolution. ▶ this video

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