Scanner for Visually Impaired People

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 besides scanning a book or a document can also read texts aloud. The scanner will operate without being connected to any devices. This work is based on the Inclusive Design and User-Centered Design approaches. The Inclusive Design Toolkit was designed by a group of researchers from The Cambridge University Engineering Design Centre. The key design issues were solved through successive cycles of exploring needs, creating concepts, and evaluating options, guided by the project management, analyzed by the qualitative methodology of the study case. The diversity of users encompasses a range of capabilities, needs, and aspirations. The developed product allows the user to handle the scanner sitting on a chair, since the equipment will be placed on a desk, facilitating the performance of the task. As a result, the usability evaluation was presented in the software and product interface development. It is intended to present the development phases of the product to users who are visually impaired. Based on the studies presented in this article, the product is aimed to develop a simple, intuitive interface that allows blind and low vision users to easily access all the necessary resources needed to use the desk scanner.