the background is of a raised dot tactile. The tactile is of a graph and and arrow going upwards right in the middle.

uDot

Tactile for all

Empowering the blind through touch

We are creating interactive tactile solutions for the blind and visually impaired to enhance social and economic inclusion

Commitment

uDot's mission is to transform education for 17 million visually impaired students by developing a touch screen tactile interface- Featuring several thousand raisable dots representing graphics, animations, GUIs and braille in an audio supplemented environment. uDot has developed novel micro actuators and is building a comprehensive education platform to realize this.

Aspiration

uDot's vision is to transform accessibility for 250 million + individuals worldwide in major aspects of life not limited to work, education, navigation and leisure.

ABOUT

Diving Deeper:

Exploring the Issues That Shape Our Mission

Barriers to Independent Learning

Limited Access to Learning Materials

an image of students sitting on the floor in a circle, with all of their hands on one tactile graphic.

Students with visual impairments struggle to access textbooks and images, with manual tactile graphic creation being a time-consuming process.

an image of a bar garph on a tactile graphic and hands of a person tracing the lines of the graph.

Due to Tactile literacy gaps and graphic complexity, students explore in an unstructured manner , leading to poor comprehension of the visual concepts on the tactile graphic. Further, without reinforcement and self paced access to information, students lose motivation towards tactile graphics and the subject.

Challenges in Teaching Technique

an image of students sitting on a floor in a semi circle learning from a tactile graphic and one teacher paying attention to one student.

Teachers face difficulty explaining and evaluating concepts without visual aids and struggle with several 1 on 1 interactions , making effective classroom engagement nearly impossible.

CHALLENGES

Our Approach:

Tackling Challenges Through Field Research

Classroom Insights

an image of students in a classroom setting with a tactile graphic and one of uDot's volunteer teaching them.

We spent over 13 months inside classrooms, observing firsthand how these challenges affect daily learning. Through in-depth research, we’ve gathered valuable insights on how classes function with these limitations. Stay tuned as we plan to use this data to revolutionize learning experiences and improve accessibility for students.

Refining for STEM

Field Experiments & Prototypes

an image of a visually impaired student smiling, tracing lines of the raised dots prototype representing a tactile graphic.

We took our research further by experimenting with tactile graphics in the classroom, gaining key insights into how students interact with them. Using this feedback, we developed prototypes that directly address the challenges we found, creating more effective and accessible learning tools!

an image of a sine wave tactile graphic and a students hand tracing the graph.

We’re zeroing in on STEM! Using the data we've gathered, we're fine-tuning our approach to make STEM subjects more accessible and engaging for students with diverse needs. By refining teaching methods, developing cutting-edge tools, and working closely with teachers, we’re making sure that no student gets left behind in science, tech, engineering, or math. Get ready for a STEM revolution like never before!

PROJECTS

JOURNEY