A robot and special computer are helping New Zealand blind children learn to write for the first time.

The system works by combining a touch-screen computer and a robotic arm. As a teacher draws on the screen, a pen on the arm writes the shapes.

The children hold the pen in one hand, learning the motion involved in drawing the shapes, while their other hand rests on a tactile pad, bringing up the letter shapes for them to feel.

As they write, a computerised voice speaks the letters.

German scientists have invented a wireless bionic eyeball that canrestore vision to patients who have become blind due to retina damageor disease.

The new prosthetic device caps 12 years of research to help thesepatients. This work has resulted in a unique system - a fullyimplantable visual prosthesis.

The scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for MicroelectronicCircuits and Systems in Duisburg, Germany, say that the bionic eye canbypass the damaged retina.

The system comprises an implant and an external transmitter integrated in an eyeglasses-frame.

For blind students, surfing the Web or taking detailed notes in physics and calculus classes can require cumbersome and expensive learning aids. Two new technologies, however, promise to greatly expand access to text and graphics for the blind community without breaking the bank.

The Pulse Smartpen, which debuts in retail stores this month, records and synchronizes  nearly everything a student hears and writes. And WebAnywhere, a free Internet-based service released last month, works as a screen reader by converting Web site text to electronic speech.

We've seen initiatives all over the globe created in an attempt to beat blindness, but researchers based at MIT are feeling fairly confident that their development is within a few years of being able to "restore partial sight to people who have slowly gone blind because of degenerative diseases of the retina." The bio-electronic implant, which is about the size of a pencil eraser, would actually sit behind the retina at the back of the eyeball, and images would be transmitted to the brain "via a connector the width of a human hair." As it stands, an FDA g

IBM launched on Tuesday an application that seeks to harness the power and time of Internet users around the globe to make the Web more accessible to the visually impaired.

Many blind or partially sighted users run screen reading software that describes the content of a Web page but often encounter problems. The screen readers rely on text or descriptive tags to explain the items on a page but these are often added as an after thought or are incomplete.