See in complete darkness with touch on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2020–2023.
demo · evergreen
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.
“'Stuff Made Here' made a 12-point display using two motors.”
3 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
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
in “I made a robot to cut my hair with scissors [video]” · View on HN
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
in “Ask HN: Alternatives to Scratch for a blind child?” · View on HN
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
in “A naked skydive inspired a way to keep pilots oriented in flight” · View on HN