IoT · Accessibility · 2022 Top 3 — NEOM Hackathon

BlindLine Ring

A 3D-printed smart ring that helps visually impaired individuals learn Braille. Point at printed Braille, tap the ring, and hear the corresponding letter read aloud — powered by a Raspberry Pi, camera, ML model, and speaker.

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Year

2022

How it works

The device is a 3D-printed ring housing a Raspberry Pi, camera, and speaker. The user points their finger at printed Braille text and taps the ring to capture an image. The image is processed through a machine learning model that recognises the Braille characters, and the corresponding letter or word is read aloud through the speaker.

The goal was to create an affordable, wearable learning tool that could help visually impaired individuals build Braille literacy independently — without needing a tutor present.

Features

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Wearable form factor

3D-printed ring design keeps hands free while learning — natural pointing gesture triggers capture.

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ML-powered recognition

Camera captures Braille, ML model recognises characters, and text-to-speech provides audio feedback.

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Self-paced learning

Users learn independently — point, tap, listen, repeat. No tutor or external app required.

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Affordable hardware

Built with a Raspberry Pi, standard camera module, and 3D-printed housing — designed for accessibility.

Built with

Raspberry Pi Python Machine Learning Computer Vision Text-to-Speech 3D Printing

Related publication

This project contributed to the published paper "Learning at Your Fingertips: An Innovative IoT-Based AI-Powered Braille Learning System" in Applied System Innovation (24 citations), co-authored with team members from the research lab.