By Jun Ji-hye
SK Telecom has completed the development of the smart braille educating system running on its Nugu voice-activated artificial intelligence (AI) speaker to help the visually impaired learn braille much more easily, the company said Monday.
The nation's top mobile carrier has cooperated with Ohfa Tech, a developer of the braille teaching device, Taptilo.
The telecom company will offer 110 devices to schools for the blind and households within the month and verify the effectiveness of the system in cooperation with Kangnam University.
The number of people who are visually impaired is estimated at about 300,000 in Korea, and 95 percent of these people are not able to read braille due to the shortage of specialist teachers, according to SK Telecom.
The development of the braille educating system utilizing the AI speaker is expected to lower barriers to education for the visually impaired through innovative technology, it said.
In the past, a teacher had to offer one-on-one tutoring to a blind person, resorting to verbal explanation and sense of touch. Due to the characteristics of the class, teaching more than one person at a time has been almost impossible.
As the new system enables the visually impaired to learn braille through the voice commands, they will be able to learn braille without the help of specialist teachers.
Users can simply input braille using the braille blocks of Taptilo and check words through the AI speaker. The two-way communication between the learner and the AI speaker is also possible ― when they say a word they want to know, the AI speaker converts it into braille.
SK Telecom added the system is comprised of curriculums to help the visually impaired learn braille at various levels.
"The development and supply of the smart braille educating system is a good model to improve access to information for a vulnerable social group and resolve social problems," said Yoo Woong-hwan who heads the SV Innovation Center of SK Telecom. "We will continue to cooperate with various interest groups to create social value."
The latest service is in line with SK Group's push to create more social value.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has stressed that enterprises will be able to achieve stable growth in the rapidly changing business environment when they create not only economic value for shareholders and customers but also create social value for various interest groups.
Taptilo at 2017 NFB Convention
NFB National Convention
July 10 - 15, 2017
OHFATECH started sales of Taptilo at 2017 NFB Convention. Taptilo attracted lots of attention from the convention attendees and good amount of purchase orders were generated during the convention.
Taptilo purchase requests were coming from various group of people, like TVIs, Parents of the blind kids, senior citizens with visually impaired and special education teachers and staffs at school districts.
Taptilo is now available for purchase and shipping in USA and Canada. For the shipping outside USA and Canada, please contact taptilo service center in USA at service@ohfatech.com
Taptilo Testing and Evaluation
In order to improve the quality of Taptilo, OHFA TECH is performing testing and evaluation of Taptilo at various organizations and schools. Below is the places where Taptilo is being tested and evaluated. Initial feed-back from these schools and organizations are quite positive. And yet there are few improvement needs recommended too. OHFA TECH will continue to improve the quality of Taptilo based on these testing and evaluation feed-back. OHFA TECH deeply appreciates all the school and organization staffs who are participating in Taptilo testing and evaluation.
NJ CBVI Assistive Technology
New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired hosts an annual event to share new assistive technologies and equipments with its AT specialists. Taptilo was also invited to this event.
Like other events, Taptilo attracted the most of the attention from AT specialists and TVIs. Taptilo demonstration was also made to Dr. Daniel Frye, Executive Director and he was very excited about this new idea of teaching and learning braille. He even said that he would champion Taptilo. It was another show case where Taptilo was highly appreciated.
Maze Day at University of North Carolina
Maze Day is an annual event held by the Department of Computer Science of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Maze Day invites K-12 students with visual impairments, along with their parents/guardians and teachers, to the Department to experience a wide variety of educational games and tools created just for them.
Taptilo was invited to Maze Day and demonstrations were made to number of blind and visually impaired children. All of them liked Taptilo and did not want to leave once they started playing Taptilo. There were many TVIs too and they also appreciated the fun and easiness Taptilo offers for children to learn braille.