So the concept is progressing: I’m making a clock for the blind and not-so-blind. I’ve started (and at this point shoud be almost finished with) a hacky-but-functional mockup of a timepiece that can be used by those with visual impairments. The basic concept is that it works like a pin screen — pins go up and down, making the shape of the number of the hour and minutes. The hope is that it’ll be functional for those with vision impairments, but that it’s also
I’m using fibreoptic wire for pins, as it’s a readily accessible substance in my case, and hopefully could look cool when illuminated. Whether or not that’ll actually work out might be a last-minute discovery, sadly. Here’s hoping it actually works! The basic concept of this part is that an LED(s) would be placed under the fibreoptic wires, and as good fibreoptics only show light at the tips, it should be obvious which are higher and which are lower on sight, if the pins are viewed at the right angle.
Of course, I’m excited to go ahead with this idea, but I’d be even more excited to try out the ideas I abandoned as well. The first idea I’d had for this project included a small button that would let the user press down to hear the time, but after thinking about it a bit, I realized I wasn’t very excited by the idea of making a clock that needed to be broadcast at all times (totally abandoning the user’s option to keep timetelling a private matter). I also started making this protoype with pins, and then wire, however I quickly realized that it’s VERY easy to cut yourself on wires and pins, and if you’re required to run your fingers over something to tell the time, and likely do so quickly, cuts (or at the very least discomfort) are bound to be issues. Not good.
Tomorrow, we’ll see if this thing actually works!
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