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Glovraille: another braille keyboard

This is a prototype of a braille keyboard that is in form of a glove.

nait-malek-youssefNait Malek Youssef
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This is the first prototype of the braille keyboard project that is in form of a glove. The project is based on an arduino pro-mini.

Introduction

Glovraille is a braille keyboard in form of a glove, the user can wear the glove a start to type in braille with ease. This first prototype outputs the results in the serial monitor, the next version I will integrate a bluetooth module in order to connect it wirelessly with computer or phone.

Concept

The concept is very simple, as shown in the figure below, the user will type a character using the selector and the character zone, when the user finish typing the character, he can confirm whether it is a number or character using one of the options in the fourth finger, the character is then sent to the connected device (computer, phone or other compatible device) after confirmation. The user can also send space, delete, enter or correct.

The glovraille consists of 10 pads, 6 for character input, 3 for different options and one pad as a selector. The role of each pad is as follow:

  •  pad GND : the selector ( connected to GND pin of the Arduino)
  • pads from 0 to 5 : character zone, this pads will construct the character (Arduino pins; 2,3,4,5,6 and 7)
  •  pad 6: When this pad is selected using the selector, if the user already taped a character, it will confirm the character and sent it to the connected device. Otherwise, if the user did not enter any character, this will send a space to the device. (pin 11 in the Arduino).
  •  pad 7: When this pad is selected using the selector, if the user already taped a character, it will confirm the number and sent it to the connected device. (pin 12 in the Arduino).
  • pad 8: When this pad is selected using the selector, if the user already taped a character, it will correct the character, in other words, this action will clear the character buffer and does not send anything to the connected device. Otherwise, if the user did not enter any character, this will send a return character to the device. (pin 13 of the Arduino).


I will update the project with the needed instructions and file in order to build such a device (The code is now kinda messy, it's a midnight project). Also I will add more details on how it works and the alphabet that functionality of each glove finger. The video below is a proof of concept of the project idea.

Version 2 test

Version 1 test

  • 1 × Glove
  • 1 × Arduino pro-mini (or any other version)
  • 1 × FTDI (if using the Arduino pro-mini) Electronic Components / Misc. Electronic Componentsif
  • 1 × Headphone wires
  • 1 × Conductive thread

View all 8 components

  • Issues during the built process of version 2

    Nait Malek Youssef • 07/31/2022 at 18:14 • 0 comments

    This log is for version 2 of the Glovraille project. The instructions of how to build the prototype can be found in the project page. Here is some issues that encountered while building the prototype version 2. 

    some issues

    When I was testing the code, I noticed that the glovraille always tries to send the 'ENTER' character, that means that the pin number 13 is been activated even if is not selected. The problem was caused by the built-in LED. At the setup function of the Arduino code, I set all the GPIO pins as OUTPUT with pullups, which made the pin number 13 alway ON, therefore the built-in LED is turned ON. And When the LED is ON, I suspect that this leads to a voltage drop in the pin 13, therefore a value of LOW as if this is selected by the selector (the GND selector in the thumb).
    The solution to this problem is just to remove the built-in LED. I was willing to remove it anyway in order to save some power when adding bluetooth and powering the system from a battery.

View project log

  • 1
    solder the headphone wires to the Arduino

    solder the headphone wires to the Arduino pins. For simplicity, I used the pins 2,3,4,5,6,7 for letters, and 11,12,13 for function buttons.

  • 2
    Add the headphone wires to the glove using a needle.
  • 3
    Add the conductive thread

     I'm not good at sewing, so I tried to have a big surface of the conductive thread, also, I tried different shapes, but they all work fine.

View all 5 instructions

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Discussions

Yvan wrote 06/08/2022 at 18:16 • point

Love the project! I've been curious about using aluminum to sense touch for a glove interface as well. Please share more about how you got it to work when you have time!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Nait Malek Youssef wrote 07/31/2022 at 18:53 • point

Thanks for the comment. In the first version, I used aluminium foil with double sided tape, and I guess you can use aluminium tape also, it should work fine. The best option is to have conductive fabric or conductive thread.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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