site.btaBulgarian Invention Helps Blind People Feel Art

A Bulgarian invention enables visually impaired people not only to write and read from their computers, but also to feel and draw pictures. This is possible thanks to Prof. Dimitar Karastoyanov's assistive computer interface for visually impaired people, which was entered in the Bulgarian Patent Office's Golden Book on November 6, 2017. Karastoyanov works in the fields of mechatronics and automation and has completed a total of 23 (19 + 4 in progress) inventions. 

The invention in question consists of a Braille screen. The intellectual property, which is protected by five Bulgarian and one foreign patent, is based on a field of linear electromagnetic micromotors that raise needles above the plane of the screen and this imitates the relief dots in the Braille alphabet, and a series of such dots can also create graphs, Karastoyanov said in a BTA interview.

The device has a simple design, which distinguishes it from the many ultra-modern and expensive devices developed around the world, he added. The scientist said that a prototype with 196 dots is currently available at the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IICT-BAS), and if there is interest from a future buyer, the number of dots can be increased to over 3,000. This creates a fairly large field, with the ability to create graphics, place icons of operating systems such as Windows, letters and numbers. Currently, the Institute is working on the prototype of the device in order to minimize its dimensions, the goal being to collect as many dots as possible per unit area, with a lower limit of about half a centimetre between them, which such an electromagnetic design allows, explained the scientist.

"If any manufacturer shows interest, we do not expect any profit from the patent, we simply protect the idea," said Karastoyanov. However, he pointed out that the Bulgarian market is small, and people with impaired vision do not have great financial opportunities, and this prevents its mass production. The scientist said that there have been inquiries from one or two Bulgarian manufacturing companies. However, after contacting the Bulgarian Union of the Blind, and finding out that the average Bulgarian visually impaired person cannot pay several thousand for a screen, they give up, he commented.

Some of Karastoyanov's other inventions include a high-speed, high-temperature method of forming industrial details from metal powders, in which micro- and nanoelements are added to improve their strength and wear resistance, such as nanodiamonds and the like, as well as the development of technology for robotic milking, feeding, watering and cleaning of cows, with several patent applications for milking robotics currently pending.

The interview with Prof. Dimitar Karastoyanov was made within the framework of the partnership initiative between BTA and the Bulgarian Patent Office, which presents the Bulgarians listed in the "Golden Book of the Patent Office" and the activities of the Patent Office in the column Created BG.