Improve the personal, professional and financial independence of blind people by enabling them to access any information without the help of others.

Project Information

Tactonom

Grant agreement ID: 968187

DOI

10.3030/968187

Project closed

EC signature date 2 February 2021

Start date 1 April 2021

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 3 123 430,00

EU contribution

€ 2 123 663,92

Coordinated by

INVENTIVIO GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Tactonom (Improve the personal, professional and financial independence of blind people by enabling them to access any information without the help of others.)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The 2.65 M blind Europeans are strongly disadvantaged in education, employment, mobility and participation in
society. This is caused by the fact that current output technologies only relate text. Spreadsheets, charts, graphics, maps, images,
websites, floor plans and many other information types represent an almost insurmountable barrier. The inability to
access information impedes the personal, professional and financial independence and leads to an unemployment rate of 75
% (source: RNIB) amongst blind people in Europe.

In six years Inventivio has developed the worldwide first interactive output technology that enables blind people to
access any information without the help of others. Due to its large tactile matrix with more than 10.500 tactile dots, the blind
user can read text and graphics with the fingertips.

The underlying software platform automatically transforms the information on the computer screen into Braille letters
(alphabet for the blind) and tactile graphics. The software platform is open and a wide range of tools is made available
to simplify the development of apps.The system is based on a break-through technology that is radically cheaper per tactile point
than the industry standard. This is achieved by dissociating the expensive actuators from the number of touch points used in
the device. By dissociating these, it becomes possible to offer the thousands of touch points needed to display graphics at
an affordable price. The Tactonom’s mission is to provide informational autonomy and enable blind people to lead a personally,
professionally and financially more independent life. This is achieved by providing access to any information without the help of
others and thus caters to the goals of the European Disability Strategy. With the Tactonom, Inventivio plans to help reduce the
unemployment rate amongst blind people in Europe by 10 %
within the next 10 years and enable 87.600 Europeans to access a job.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first phase of the project, the team has focused primarily on the hardware, software and creation of content for the system.

With regards to the hardware, the team managed to significantly improve various aspects of the system. For example, the reliability of the page build-up has been optimized while at the same time increasing the build-up speed. Also, the robustness and weight of the device were further improved.

The software is another major focus of the project. Here, the team has made good progress with a suite of productivity apps, that will facilitate the access of blind people to information.

As especially complex graphic information cannot be automatically be rendered for blind people, the team has developed hundreds of tactile graphics that are optimized for the understanding by blind people. These graphics have been tested with blind people.

Despite Covid, the project has made very good progress.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The Tactonom is being developed to enable blind people worldwide to access graphic information. These include spreadsheets, flow charts, maps, forms, websites and many other types of information. Special emphasis is placed on the affordability of the system. To that end a new concept has been developed that is radically cheaper per tactile point than all current technologies. The expecation is that improved affordability will drive adoption of the system in education, in the job environment, for mobilty and inclusion.

Tactonom 2021

Logo Tactonom