Dot (Ponto in Portuguese), is the first intelligent watch for people with visual impairment. A wearable device, which instead of displaying information through text and graphics, uses a display in braille.
The Dot was developed by researchers from South Korea, the device can be connected to smartphones via bluetooth, as well as the Apple Watch, for example, and is able to display all kinds of text content such as social networking posts, weather forecasts or the directions of a map system.
If we live (or almost) the era of smartwatches, there is no reason why they should not be inclusive. And that's Dot's proposal, the world's first intelligent watch made for the visually impaired.
The Dot has a screen that is made of 24 touch sensors and uses electrodynamic cells to relay information. With the help of these sensors the device knows when the user's finger reaches the last letter on the display and instantly updates the screen with new letters. In this way, the user can read through the small circle of 43mm (1.7in) radius.
Clocks for the blind are not new to the market. However, most of these devices use audio to tell the time or report messages to their owners. Dot innovates above all by making the experience intimate. After all, nobody wants to make their private messages public.
The smart clock uses braille markings integrated into an electronic device called a Active Braille and according to the company, reduces by 10 times the size, weight and price of the device compared to existing technologies that depend on electricity.
So far 140.000 smart watch pre-orders have been registered in 13 different countries. The English and Korean versions will be on the market in April 2017, and will cost $ 290 USD.
