Dot, South Korean entrepreneur Eric Ju Yoon Kim’s device for visually impaired, allows never-before interaction
Broadly, Eric Ju Yoon Kim’s trip down the startup road had two major turning points – the first was when he moved from South Korea to Seattle after high school to study at the University of Washington. By the time he graduated, Kim knew he wanted to an entrepreneur, a decision that saw him launch four successful startups.
The other was in a church, around the time he was running his third venture, where he met a visually impaired woman reading the Bible in Braille. Kim realised that the Bible was just one book to him, but 22 books in Braille for her.
He exited Wagon, his third startup that he calls ‘the Uber for trucks’, and began planning the outlines of a device to bring the world to the blind began to form.
An idea takes shape
“I left Wagon to its co-founders and became a Christian. I started researching Braille books and content and found that only 0.3 per cent of content is translated into Braille due to two reasons — it is expensive, and the number of Braille teachers is falling across the world,” Kim says.
He also discovered that the visually impaired face several challenges including lack of affordable resources and platforms to access information.
Kim and his team realised there are 285 million visually impaired people, of whom 40 million are blind. “These are alarming numbers, not something you can ignore. Braille translations are also decreasing because the process is expensive, as is digitalised Braille. This makes it difficult for 90 per cent of visually impaired people to use Braille content.
This has also left 80 per cent of such people unemployed,” he adds.
After much study, Kim launched the Dot watch earlier this year in South Korea -- a device that can be worn like a wristwatch and uses a moveable Braille interface made of magnets and pins which allows users to read or feel text messages. It also connects via Bluetooth to other devices, like a smartphone, to allow access to apps.
“The Dot Braille smartwatch was created keeping the cost factor in mind. Our watches are priced at $300, and we will try and make them cheaper. It is a small watch, like the Apple watch or Pebble,” says Kim. He adds that the device tells time as well, and is an improvement on earlier devices that couldn’t allow seconds to be read. “Reading seconds is very important, for, say, a blind athlete.”
The feedback that the Dot team is getting is positive so far – users have taken to the smartwatch’s price, size, lightness portability. It also brings privacy to the user.
“Imagine closing your eyes and reading a book over your headphones. You can be out on the street and miss signals and alarms. The other big game changer is privacy – do you really want your private messages to be read out aloud in the train, a meeting or on the street? Dot solves this issue,” he adds.
‘It’s a beginning’
With a section of industry experts arguing that the watch’s size makes the process lengthy and tedious, Kim says he is aware of Dot’s shortcomings and is trying to fix them. As he puts it, “Dot is not the solution, it is the beginning.”
The next step, he adds, is bringing out a Braille tablet the size of an iPad mini by next year. With this, the user can read up to eight lines of Braille instead of the single line that the watch allows.
A public module of Dot, currently under development, hopes to take technology beyond individual users and make ATMs, stations, airports and public libraries more accessible. Presently, Braille at an ATM is minimal, and says ‘This is an ATM’.
Kim says the public module will use their LEGO technology, which uses blocks and shapes on the screen to make it real-time information and display.
“The LEGO technology allows interaction with technology. Globally, we need to educate people a lot more about issues the blind face. Dot is now in Africa and is working with a school in Kenya.”
During his visit to Mumbai scheduled on December 5, where he will be attending the TedxGateway event to discuss his company and findings, Kim says he will be focusing on Braille literacy.
“The conversation around Braille literacy needs to open up and be a priority,” he says.
Do you want your private messages to be read out aloud in the train, a meeting or on the street? Dot solves this issue
Facebook comments