Force-feedback pen helps teach blind children to write

Glasgow University’s Prof Stephen Brewster has developed a method for helping to teach blind children to write using haptic technology.

Haptic technology is a method of interacting with computers through a sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations and/or motions to the user.

’If you’re blind you still need to write. For example, legal documents require a signature and it’s very difficult to learn to write because you’re not getting any visual feedback from the pen,’ Brewster said.

To help, he has developed a ’force-feedback’ pen that helps blind and visually impaired children write clearly and consistently by gently guiding their hand. Known as McSig, the system uses an off-the-shelf haptic device called the Phantom Omni: a stylus mounted at the end of a motorised arm that is capable of moving, and resisting movement, in three dimensions.

In tests with visually impaired children, Brewster found that after a 20-minute practice session on the haptic device, the children — many of whom were unable to write at all before their training — were able to write recognisable letters.