Keywords

1 Introduction

According to data from the 2010 Census, more than 35 million Brazilians present some type of visual impairment, with more than 6 million being totally blind or presenting severe difficulties to see, Oliveira [1].

This project involves a multidisciplinary professional team from different areas of expertise such as Physics, Mathematics, Electronic Engineering, Computing, and Design. It aims to develop a desktop scanner that apart from scanning a book or a document, can also read texts aloud. The scanner will operate without being connected to any devices.

Despite several initiatives by the Brazilian government to reduce the gap between disabled and non-disabled people, solutions to increase the autonomy of the visually impaired people and facilitate their access to information, entertainment, education, and work are still lacking. Also according to the 2010 Census, almost half of Brazilians with 65 years or more - 49.8% - presented some degree of visual impairment (Oliveira, [1]).

The quality of life of the blind person is directly linked to the possibility of being able to promote the development of their individual potentialities. Therefore, the development of assistive technologies targeting this public becomes critical to enable their inclusion in the school setting. According to the ADA concept, Assistive Technology is defined as “a full range of equipment, services, strategies, and practices designed and applied to decrease the functional problems faced by individuals with disabilities” (Cook and Hussley [2]).

The Technical Assistance Committee - CAT1- of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Brazil approved and recognized, on December 14, 2007, the concept of Assistive Technologies. It is an interdisciplinary area of knowledge that encompasses products, resources, methodologies, strategies, practices, and services that aim to promote functionality, related to the activity and participation of people with disabilities or reduced mobility, targeting their autonomy, independence, quality of life, and social inclusion.

Assistive Technology is considered a broad concept and can be a key element in the promotion of Human Rights since it provides to disabled people the opportunity to achieve autonomy and independence in various aspects of their lives (Secretary of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic [3]).

Disability is the absence or diffusion of a psychic, physiological or anatomical structure. Physical disability causes a disadvantage, resulting from a commitment or disability, which limits or impedes the motor performance of a particular person (Fernandes et al. [4]). Radabaugh [5] defines: “For people without disabilities technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible”.

2 Development

2.1 Visual Impairment

According to the World Health Organization (WHO/WHO), “blindness is the inability to see.” The blind person lives in a world different from the world of the seer because he (she) is devoid of sight, light, and color. For Blanco [6], it is a world in which the information received by the other senses assumes a higher importance. Thus, blindness is defined, in a clinical (Bruno [7]) or legal sense (Lima et al. [8]), as visual acuity equal to or less than 0.05, with the best optical correction (Lima et al. [8]), and a visual field of less than 20° (Bruno [7], p. 7). In the educational sense, blindness is the total loss of sight, reaching the null projection of light (Bruno [7]; Blanco [6]) “or minimal residue of vision that leads the person to need the Braille system [or computers and their functionalities] as a means of reading and writing.” (Lima et al. [8], p. 6).

According to Julião et al. [9] vision is responsible for providing information for the sensory organization, understanding the surrounding world, and giving meaning to objects, concepts, and ideas. Therefore, the loss of visual capacity implies the limitation of information and knowledge that favors motor development, perceptive, and emotional response, causing adversities to the individual and collective nature, affecting the quality of life, occupational restrictions, and self-esteem. These factors may also limit the exercise of citizenship.

In this way, Santos [10], points out that the universalism we want today is the one that seeks to provide human dignity. Taking this into account, the differences arise and must be respected. “We have the right to be equal when difference makes us inferior and the right to be different when equality mischaracterizes us. Hence the need for an equality that recognizes differences and a difference that does not produce, feed or reproduce inequalities.” (Santos [10], p. 56).

2.2 Similar

The analysis of similar products to the one presented in this article was carried. Figure 1(a) shows the Scandock flatbed scanner, which does not need to be connected to a computer to be used. The structure of the product presents a light appearance and great handling convenience. The user must attach his smartphone to the scanner frame to capture the images. The document to be scanned must be inserted into the aluminum base of the product, which has a slope of three degrees. In the aluminum base, there is a silicone film, offering greater adherence to the document to be scanned and preventing folds. The two rods positioned on the sides, right and left, evenly distribute the light on the document to be scanned with eight small LED lamps being inserted in these rods in order to distribute the light needed for scanning. The maximum format for scanning is 22 × 31 cm. The materials used for the manufacturing of this product were aluminum and polymer, according Scandock [11].

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Source: Modified by Scandock; Atiz; Freedom Scientific [12].

Pictures of similar products.

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Another scanner that was analyzed was the Book Drive Pro, by Atiz (Fig. 1b). It is a desktop scanner with a larger size (130 cm in height, 144 cm in width, and 138 cm in depth). This scanner needs to be connected to a computer to be used. One of its differentials is the V-shaped glass base, which according to the developers, solves the typical problem of curvature of books at the time of scanning, called The Warping. This glass attached to the open book at an angle of 120°, leaves its pages free of curvatures, thus facilitating their scanning. Two cameras are used for scanning, one for the right page and other for the left. The image capture is done at the same time for both pages, with up to 800 pages being captured per hour. The maximum format for scanning is 42 × 61.5 cm (ATIZ [12]).

The Sara CE, (Fig. 1c) by Freedom Scientific, is capable of automatically detecting when a new page is exposed to the camera. In order to perform voice read, this scanner needs to be connected to a computer. The keyboard is large, with tactile keys that are easy to memorize. This scanner is able to read up to 18 languages and presents other features such as increasing text size for low vision, changing the background color, adding more space between letters, etc. (Freedom Scientific [13]).

3 Materials and Methods

The present work used the case study methodology as the qualitative approach to analyze all the gathered information since this is a multifaceted in-depth investigation of a single social phenomenon. The case study is usually conducted in great detail and is often based on the use of various data sources (Feagin et al. [14]).

The qualitative research was carried out from a selection of data collection, based on the fragmentation and extraction of everything that might be useful to the analysis and always examining the value of each piece of information acquired through both the documental bibliographic research and the case study approach.

Regarding design, we have used the concepts of Inclusive Design and User-Centered Design. The British Standards Institute [15] defines inclusive design as “The design of mainstream products and/or services that are accessible to, and usable by, as many people as reasonably possible, without the need for special adaptation or specialized design”. The inclusive design does not suggest that it is always possible (or appropriate) to design a new product to address the needs of the entire population. Instead, inclusive design guides an appropriate design response to the diversity presently found in the population.

The ‘Design for all’ and ‘Universal design’ philosophies both have the same literal meaning. These philosophies originated from the design of the built environment and websites. In the context of product design, both ‘Design for all’ and ‘Universal design’ approaches, pragmatically accept that it is not always possible for one product to meet the needs of the entire population. Nevertheless, these approaches maintain that all mainstream products should be accessible to as many people as technically possible.

The Inclusive Design defined by Clarkson et al. [16], is characterized by verifying and questioning the project decision in order to include or exclude people. The inclusive design underscores the importance of the contribution provided by the awareness of the diversity of users for the development of the project. It covers the range of abilities, needs, and aspirations of the users and seeks to reach as many people as possible, as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Source: Developed by Clarkson et al. [16].

Diagram of the inclusive design method.

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User observation is about uncovering what people really want, what they really need, and what they really do. Observing actual behavior is vital because people often struggle to clearly articulate their real needs because they have poor awareness of their own habits and practices, change what they say depending on what they think the interviewer wants to hear, and cannot imagine all the possible alternatives to the current situation. Focusing on the needs of the real user helps the design team to avoid overloading the product with every feature they want or think the users want. User observation helps with other exploring activities, as well as with refining the product goals. It should be complemented with other methods to uncover user needs, such as interviews, questionnaires, diary methods and focus groups. Anthropometric, ergonomic and capability data can also supplement user observation providing insight into the diversity of users.

A user journey is a step-by-step description of his(her) interaction with a product. It also describes what the user does immediately before and after using the product, as this provides some context for use. It should consider the purchase, initial use, getting support, and dealing with the end of the shelf life of the product, as well as the ‘normal’ product use. A user journey helps the design team to understand the user experience and helps to ensure that the needs list is complete.

User journeys should ideally be constructed by ‘Observing users’ (see above). The journeys can be described by writing down each user action and are further enhanced by the addition of photographs. This study has used both photographs and films.

A needs list is used here to refer to a comprehensive and categorized list of the user and business needs that the design solution should fulfill. Each need can be captured with a statement in the form. The purposes of the needs list are to (a) provide a link between the requirements of the design project and the needs of the users; (b) prioritization of the needs, based on the outcomes that they enable or prevent.

We have initially used the User-Centered Design when a blind person used a scanner with voice. Users interact with a system through its interface. The concepts, images, and terminology presented in the interface must be adapted to the needs of the user.

The user-centered design assumes that the user is the primary focus of product realization, and prioritizes their needs, desires, expectations, and conditioning. At each stage of the project, designers and designers consult people representative of end users to get to know them in depth and to combine technique and sensitivity for results that create empathy and identity, according Avellar, Duarte [17].

The user experience was performed using the Sara-PC scanner (Fig. 3). This scanner is 25 cm wide by 35 cm deep and 3.5 cm high. Like other scanners, it converts printed documents to voice using the 5645 Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Another feature is that this device also digitalizes Braille documents, which might later be converted into voice. Like Atiz Book Drive, the Sara - PC needs to be connected to a computer. Its operating mechanism resembles a common scanner, where the cover must be opened and the document must be inserted to be digitized for later conversion into voice. The size of the scanning area is 21.5 × 29.7 cm (Freedom Scientific [13]).

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Source: Developed by the authors, based on the research performed (2016).

User experience with Sara Scanner – PC.

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In Fig. 3(a) the user lifts the cover and inserts the document in the scanner. Before this, it was necessary to fit the device to locate the cover and buttons for the drive. Then, in Fig. 3(b), the user adjusts the document in the scanner tray. In both procedures, the previous skill of the user helped in the execution of the task, but an unprepared PCD would have difficulties to perform it. In Figs. 3(c) and (d), the user can be observed using the software that performs the text-to-speech conversion and scanning different materials, encyclopedia, and spiral, which present greater difficulty for the image capture performed by the device.

4 Results

The first prototype of a desktop scanner was crafted, based upon which the researchers involved in this project set the initial parameters for the development of the product. The prototype was divided into two parts, the base and the top (a). The top has a structure with two mirrors forming a 45º angle, providing the adequate support for the placement of the materials to be scanned avoiding the warping effect. The size of the top is X cm height, X width, and X cm depth. The dimensions of the base are 53.5 cm height, 80 cm width, and 56 cm depth, with doors on both sides to facilitate the handling of the internal equipment. Two LED plates (dimensions C x L) (amount of lumen) were placed inside the base (b) as the light source. These lights a “mirror bed”, angulated in 45º, being therefore parallel to the top glass that will receive the images to be captured. In addition to that, there are two cameras that perform the image capture in a synchronized way, of the materials put under the top. Both the base and the top of the prototype were painted with black automotive paint to avoid light refraction providing, therefore, a proper setting for image capture.

This initial format allowed all angulation tests for the image capture to be performed. After the use of successful algorithms for better calculation, the team responsible for the design, ergonomics, and testing with users developed a new design (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
figure 4

Source: Elaborated by the authors, based on the performed research (2017).

Prototype.

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After the technical issues and the required parameters for the adequate image capture were solved, the process of developing the desktop scanner was started through the analysis of the similar products found in the market. The initial parameters for the process of creation and prototyping of the scanner were set. After performing a brainstorm with the team involved in the project, the initial ideas were represented through drawings. The product developed enables the user to handle the scanner seated in a chair, since the scanner will be placed over a desk, which will facilitate its operation. The user will remain seated during all the process since the support that will receive the book/document presents a slope of 10°, which allows the total control of the process. The defined rounded and organic shapes provide the project with a harmonic proposal that allows the user to “embrace” its structure enabling them to reach the buttons positioned in the right and left sides of the device (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.
figure 5

Source: Elaborated by the authors, based on the research performed (2017).

New layout of the scanner.

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The top of the prototype is 50 cm wide, 31 cm high and 45.5 cm deep. The shape resembles a pyramid with a 45-degree angle. Two 42.7 × 33 cm glass slides were inserted at the top of the pyramid, which will have the function of accommodating the book or the material to be digitized. This format is suggested since it will likely eliminate the reading and scanning problems due to the spine bending, wire-o (binding type), and spirals that attach the sheets of these materials.

The team has also designed buttons with the functions on/off, enter, cancel, line, skip the line, and repeat line, all of them in Braille and with different textures. The buttons present simple and easily understandable forms following the regulations of the Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas, NBR 9050 that establishes the criteria and parameters for accessibility projects. The button design started from the creation of a grid through the Illustrator software. The grid refers to a set of lines and shapes used to sort and structure the graphic elements of a creation. According to Samara [18], the grids might be free, organic, and rigorous, introducing an order and facilitating the development of a layout. Tondreau [19], highlights that the grid maps a plan for the entire project. In this case, the grid served as a basis to create a family of buttons that were later printed in a 3D printer.

Several options of designs have been tried out (Fig. 6(a)). After analyzing their shapes and lines, one option of each button was selected to be vectorized using the Illustrator software, as shown in Fig. 6(b), and later modeled in the Rhinoceros software for 3D printing (Fig. 6(c)).

Fig. 6.
figure 6

Source: Elaborated by the authors, based on the research performed (2016)

Button details.

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5 Conclusion

The final result obtained up to now is a prototype of a product that will be validated and later adapted. The work performed by a multidisciplinary team provided simplicity of solution which will result in higher autonomy to the user. The great differential of this project of a desktop scanner with speech is its low cost. We live in a country with serious political, economic, and cultural problems in which the access to education by disabled people should be assisted so that a true inclusion might take place.

This project has detected some points that need to be improved to enable the implementation of the solution developed and, from that, develop a proposal that might overcome the similar products in the market. The blind and low sight users have been participating in the proposals since the beginning, pointing out the problems of the other scanners and reporting their demands about the operation of this type of device. Many times this involves simple and easily implemented solutions.