Dublin High Student Creates Affordable Braille Display

DUBLIN, CA — When Jeffrey Tan, 17, was younger, he had a large blind spot in the center of his vision. He thought he would go blind.

The Dublin High School senior said his vision recovered, but the experience changed him.

"Since then, I've always wanted to do something to help the visually impaired," he said.

So with some inspiration from a digital electronics class at Dublin High and a whole lot of online research, Tan took to his garage and developed a new way to create refreshable braille displays that could save customers a lot of money.

Refreshable braille displays currently on the market use a series of pins raised up and down to communicate a message to users, Tan said. Those are pricey and high maintenance, and can cost from $1,000 to $5,000, he said.

Tan read an article on recent advances in technology that cause electrical stimulation and wondered if it could be used in braille displays. Instead of pins, Tan's project uses electrical pulses to communicate a message.

He estimates his device could cost about $60 or less.

Tan plans on going to college to study electrical engineering and computer science, and continue to fine-tune his project. He hopes that in the coming years, he'll be able to improve the device's feeling and create a final product that can be readily available to the public, like an iPhone or Amazon Kindle.

Tan's work was recognized Jan. 23 at Innovation Tri-Valley leadership Group's Dreammakers and Risktakers Awards, where he said he met other young people and learned about their research.

"It's pretty inspiring to see this generation making a lot of active change in society," he said.

It sure is.