Trio of Ohio State alums work to revolutionize the accessibility of Braille displays

Logan Nowlin
Wed, 11 Oct 2023 00:41:50 +0000
Alumni, Arts & Life, Features, Instagram Page, News, A Cubed Design, arts, Arts & Life desk, arts and life, Arts and Life at OSU, arts and life desk, Arts and Life in Ohio, blindness, Braille, Columbus, engineering, Enigma Reader, invention, lantern, low vision, nonprofit, Ohio, ohio state, ohio state university, osu, prototype, technology, The Lantern, university

A three-phase diagram depicts A Cube Design's Enigma Reader, which is designed to be more affordable and accessible than current braille displays. Credit: Courtesy of Caroline Karbowski

(Left to right) Caroline Karbowski, Enan Srivastava and Garrett Carder celebrate after receiving $10,000 in funding for the development of the Enigma Reader. Credit: Caroline Karbowski

Three Ohio State alums are developing technology that could make Braille more accessible than ever.

Through their assistive technology company A Cubed Design, the trio is designing the Enigma Reader, a handheld Braille display that is slated to become the most easily obtainable product on the market, according to the company’s website.

According to the American Foundation for the Blind’s website, a Braille display is an external device that converts text — usually from a computer screen — to Braille via round-tipped pins raised through holes in a flat surface. Braille displays allow individuals with low vision, who would normally not be able to use a standard computer, to read text output.

Consisting of CEO and lead engineer Garrett Carder, Chief Community Officer Caroline Karbowski and Chief Operating Officer Enan Srivastava, A Cubed Design is experimenting with different methods of pin actuation, or how pins move to form Braille cells, for its new device. The current method used by most Braille display models employs piezoelectric sensors, which are fragile and can be quite expensive, Karbowski said.

“There are other ways you could do pin actuation for Braille,” Karbowski said. “There is only really one company right now that is mainstream in the market and using their own pin actuation.”

A Cubed Design is currently working on two different prototype readers in order to make its own device less costly and easier to obtain: one prototype utilizes the industry-standard pin actuation methods as a proof of concept, while the other prototype uses its own custom method of pin actuation, Srivastava said.

The industry-standard pin actuation prototype is currently on track to be completed around December 2023 or January 2024, and the company hopes to have the second prototype completed around February or March of 2024, Srivastava said.

If all goes well with the prototype devices, A Cubed Design plans to launch the Enigma Reader — which will include the second prototype’s pin actuation method — into the market in late 2024 or early 2025, Srivastava said.

“My favorite part of all of this is being able to go out and put these devices into people’s hands,” Srivastava said. “I know it sounds really cheesy, but seeing the possibilities of what they can do show up on their faces is always incredible.”

The device will be compatible with both Microsoft Office and Google Drive, Karbowski said. The initial idea for the Enigma Reader first materialized while the trio was working at See3D, a nonprofit founded by Karbowski that prints 3D models of items for people with low vision. It was there they realized they could make an even larger impact if they focused more on Braille displays than just 3D printing, Karbowski said.

“We really saw the main problem that blind people are facing is the high cost of Braille displays,” Karbowski said. “That is what most people were telling us they want a group of engineering students to solve.”

On top of trying to solve the pin actuation problem, A Cubed Design is also incorporating Braille-learning technologies into the Enigma Reader. The company hopes the device will not only be affordable but also accessible in the sense that it can encourage more people to learn Braille, Karbowski said.

“As it is right now, sometimes most people don’t get a Braille display until they’re already proficient at Braille because they’re so expensive,” Karbowski said. “We’re really just trying to make Braille easier for people to get access to.”

Another main goal for the company is hiring blind individuals, Karbowski said.

“We want our company to help with the [high] unemployment,” Karbowski said. “Right now there’s a 70 percent unemployment rate of blind people.”

Having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, Carder leads A Cubed Design’s engineering development, while Srivastava has a bachelor’s degree in economics and controls the company’s business-related affairs.

Karbowski — who is expected to receive her master’s in sensory impairments and inclusion with a focus on orientation and mobility in 2024 — shares her expertise in Braille and blindness accessibility with the group.

“I decided to learn Braille in sixth grade so I could read books in the car without getting carsick,” Karbowski, who is also a certified Braille transcriber, said. “In general, I just love Braille. I work with it every day. Any time I get to work with Braille is fun.”

To stay up to date with any developments of the Enigma Reader and learn more about A Cubed Design, visit the company’s website.