October 16, 2019
During a recent Principles of Engineering course, a team of Olin students set out to develop a braille printer that could convert musical instrument digital interface files into braille sheet music.
The idea was to offer an accessible way for visually impaired musicians to access digitized music and to be able to have the music in sheet format, without having to search in a store.
The POE Team's braille printer, Techtile, that can convert musical instrument digital interface files into braille sheet music.
Techtile was created and it provides musicians with visual impairments wider resources of sheet music while also easing the process of obtaining braille sheet music.
The project ran the gamet from students adding componets to their mechanical system, to using an Arduino CNC V3 Motor Shield to power the stepper motors, and ultimately roll paper back and forth through the printer, to software writing and implementation. All with the goal of allowing visually impaired musicians to "Feel the Music."
View the project here...
Watch: Braille Music Machine End of Sprint 2