UP Diliman students develop handy ‘Brailleant’ tool for visually-impaired students

LAGUNA, Philippines – Queen Jade, a nine-year-old kinder pupil at the Special Education Center of Los Baños Central Elementary School, is determined to finish her schooling despite not being able to see and hear.

She relies on her braille slate and stylus, a manual device used to write braille by punching dots onto paper. It consists of two metal or plastic plates hinged together with slots for the stylus to create braille characters.

This device, as large as a folder, is important for children with blindness to learn how to read and write. But such equipment is hard to find and can be quite expensive, making it difficult for students and learning institutions alike to own one.

Given this situation, five materials engineering students from the University of the Philippines-Diliman developed a more convenient, lightweight, and inexpensive version of braille.

The Brailleant Blind Item (BBI) features a portable braille slate with a unique folding mechanism, setting it apart from the braille devices currently available in the market. The BBI was developed by Xyrille Belega, Faith Cuenca, Joemar Feliciano, Gabriel Laurente, and Chelsea Teodosio.

The product is part of their project in the materials engineering course, aimed at creating materials to improve one’s quality of life. 

“Magandang bigyan natin sila ng choice about it lalo na since mas comfortable or efficient na braille slate and stylus para sa kanila is very mahal talaga and hindi siya afford,” Chelsea Teodosio, one of the inventors said.

(It’s good to give them choices on the braille slate and stylus that suit them since they are very expensive and unaffordable.)

The students initially reached out to SPED learners in Quezon City, where visually impaired students tested the invention. They received positive feedback.

“Sabi nila, hanggang may visually impaired, magiging relevant talaga ang braille slate and stylus lalo na sa mga mag-aaral,” Teodosio said.

(They say that as long as there are visually impaired people, the braille slate and stylus will always be relevant, especially for students.)

A ‘Brailleant’ idea

Typical braille has features similar to typical writing, where it has a stylus that acts like a pen and embosses dots on the paper, a slate that guides the writing of braille characters, and a joint to secure the paper.

Modern braille slate and stylus are commonly derived from plastics or polycarbonate, a type of polymer created due to the chemical reaction of its building blocks, bisphenol A (BPA) and phosgene. 

The materials engineering students modified the current design of the slate and stylus to facilitate on-the-go braille writing.

BBI has a portable braille slate with a folding mechanism feature – its edge over braille devices available in the market.

Teodosio said their BBI has eight lines to make the writing process more convenient despite its smaller size. This way, the user would not have to move the slate multiple times while using it to write on the paper.

“Instead of gumalaw ng eight times, tatlong beses na lang siya o kaya apat na beses na lang. ‘Yun ‘yung innovations na nagawa namin to improve the product,” Teodosio stated.

(Instead of moving eight times, it only takes three or four times now. Those are the innovations we made to improve the product.)

The engineering process

The portable braille slate was created from polylactic acid (PLA) filament, a biodegradable, durable, and lightweight thermoplastic polymer processed through 3D printing.

This method of sticking polymers is similar to heating and molding chocolate into shapes that harden as they cool without significant chemical changes, making it a versatile material for BBI.

Xyrille Belega, the group’s leader, explained that each of the parts was separately printed to make the folding process possible.

“Sa 3D printing, ‘yan kasi ‘yung kailangan mong i-secure eh. Ginagawa siya sa autoCAD (Computer Assisted Design). Kailangan mong i-construct. Actually, hiwalay-hiwalay na prinint ito tapos ‘yung panel tapos half of the back panel para magfold siya,” Belega stated.

(With 3D printing, you need to secure that. It’s done in AutoCAD [Computer-Aided Design]. You have to construct it. Actually, it was printed in separate parts, including the panel and half of the back panel, so it can fold.)

In choosing the most appropriate material, the students considered using other types of thermoplastic polymers, and PLA emerged as the most suitable material.  It has the ideal ultimate tensile strength, which is the capacity of a material to handle pressure before it breaks.

Teodosio said they also discovered that the material is more affordable and has the appropriate density compared to other thermoplastic polymers and commercially available braille. 

“Nung bumili kami ng four-line, ‘yung pinaka-basic…P300. So naghanap kami ng material na gusto namin is cheaper talaga. So aside from cheaper sana, nakakapag-sustain siya ng enough strength para magawa niya pa rin y’ung kailangan niyang gawin,” Teodisio stated.

(When we bought the basic four-line, it cost P300. So we looked for a material that was truly cheaper. Aside from being cheaper, it also needed to sustain enough strength to still perform its required function.)

The students hope that their class project would inspire companies and other materials developers to create similar devices to aid visually impaired learners.

State of SPED education

Merly Gellano, a seasoned special education teacher, underscored the high cost and difficulty of finding learning materials for visually impaired students.

“Hindi naman biro ‘yung ganitong mga expensive…. Mahirap gumawa ng mga ganito, mahirap makahanap kung saan bibili,” she said, referring to the device.

(It’s no joke, buying things that are this expensive…. It’s hard to make these and difficult to find where to buy them.)

She noted that the learning materials used for teaching disabled students were just from donations.

“Napakahalaga po kasi ito po ang reading and writing nila…. Natuto sila magbasa. Natututo sila magsulat…. Napakalaking tulong sa kanila na makapag-aral sila at maabot din nila ang kanilang mga pangarap.”

(This is very important because it’s their way of reading and writing…. They learn to read and write…. It’s a huge help for them to be able to study and achieve their dreams.)

Importance of collaboration

The design process for BBI spanned a semester, during which extensive consultations were conducted with occupational therapists, SPED teachers, and visually impaired students.

“Pagkatapos namin magbuo ng proposal…[we] talk to our stakeholders talaga. Sabi ng prof namin, hindi kami puwedeng magdiyos-diyosan to do this na wala man lang consultation with them before,” Teodosio said.

(After crafting our proposal, we made sure to engage with our stakeholders…. Our professor reminded us that we couldn’t act like God and proceed without consulting them first.)

Through these consultations, the team identified the necessary locking features and brainstormed on the overall design of BBI.

Meanwhile, Gellano emphasized that innovations like the BBI can help SPED students maximize their potential.

According to the Department of Health, 188,184 Filipinos have visual disabilities as of May 8, 2024.

Additionally, a 2018 study of the Philippine Eye Research Institute revealed that 4 million Filipinos have undiagnosed eye problems, with socioeconomic barriers often hindering access to necessary eye care. – with reports from Irish Gwyneth Habig and Marcus Saladino/Rappler.com

Irish Gwyneth Habig and Marcus Saladino are BS Development Communication students at UP Los Baños. This article was written as part of the requirements of their DEVC 128 (Science Communication for Development) class, and was vetted by Rappler editors before publication.