Despite widespread efforts to improve accessibility, braille-reader hardware has been limited to text translation, due to the complex mechanism of braille cells. Composed of 30x10 energy-efficient “Dot” braille cells on one portable panel, Dot Pad takes tactile communication to a new dimension — from to text to graphics — with innovative image processing that maps digital image input onto a tactile display using AI to analyze and segment the input. For the first time, the visually impaired can access any visual content on the internet. Dot Pad encourages independent learning, creates further employment opportunities, and empowers diverse artists and creators.

While most people rely on visuals to understand complex topics, the 285 million blind and visually impaired people worldwide are left out. Tactile books are scarce, expensive, and impractical. Audio descriptions fail to describe complex information.

Conventional tactile devices use piezoelectricity to power their actuators, making them bulky and expensive. Further, translation of visual content into tactile one is complex. Conventional vectorization or edge detection algorithms aren’t capable of producing tactile graphics that are suitable for blind users. It requires intelligence to understand what’s in an image and decide what’s important to the audience.

Dot Pad. The first smart tactile graphics display for the visually impaired. It can display any visual content from any source because the innovative Dot Image Processing technology uses Al to analyze and understand visual input and present it most accurately on Dot Pad’s tactile display of 2,400 dots.

While conventional tactile devices use piezoelectricity to power their actuators, Dot Pad uniquely relies on electromagnetism, which reduces size, weight, power consumption and price by more than ten times.

Thanks to a partnership with Apple, Dot Pad integrates seamlessly with iOS and iPadOS, thereby giving users access to the 2.2 million apps on the App Store, out of the box. Dot Pad reduces dependence on tactile textbooks and audio description for graphical content which sighted people are used to freely enjoying.

There are 285 million blind and visually impaired people worldwide who are excluded from a whole world of content as 84% of communication is visual. They have had to rely on expensive tactile books which just can’t keep up with the dynamic nature of content in today’s world. Dot Pad bridges the gap and makes graphical content accessible like never before.

By partnering with institutions and organizations for education, entertainment, and government, Dot Inc. is making Dot Pad accessible to individuals. The Dot Pad technology is even being shared with competitors to give visually impaired people all around the world access to tactile graphics. Dot Pad technology is permanently installed in public kiosks in Busan, South Korea.

After inventing and patenting the most efficient actuator cell in 2014, Dot Inc. set out to digitalize text-to-Braille communication with Dot Watch and Dot Mini. The next natural step was to make graphics accessible. The innovative Dot Image Processor uses AI to accurately map tactile graphics. First launched as a tactile display in public kiosks in 2020, the portable version of Dot Pad was launched in 2022 through Tech Crunch U.S. and Japan.

Thanks to a partnership with Apple, users can access all the existing apps in the App Store in a tactile way. Dot Inc. is now partnering with institutions and organizations, both big and small to make sure the device reaches everyone in need. The Dot Pad technology is even being shared with competitors to give visually impaired people all around the world access to tactile graphics.

Launched in early 2022, Dot Pad has earned huge interest from the media as well as public and private institutions worldwide, with millions in dollars in orders. The Dot Pad technology is even being shared with competitors to give visually impaired people all around the world access to tactile graphics. Dot Pad technology is permanently installed in public kiosks in Busan, South Korea.

Dot Pad has disrupted the field of accessibility technology with tactile graphics. To create further software and hardware support for tactile graphics, Dot Inc. is in touch with major players in the field such to create a unified tactile graphic file format and a dedicated open database of tactile graphics. Dot Inc. is partnering with many educational and governmental institutions like UCLA, Carnegie Mellon University, McGill University, Columbia University, and American Publishing House for Blind (to name a few).