Shams El-Mutwalli

Professor Kunio MATSUI’s team at Kanazawa Institute of Technology have worked to develop a mobile application called “Walk & Mobile-Coded Braille Block Recognition,” that helps visually impaired people and tourists by providing audio after reading coded braille blocks in Japan.

Development of the app began in October 2018, and following a prototype experiment in 2019, coded braille blocks were placed at various locations around the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.

The use of coded braille blocks has expanded since, offering information about various sites in Kanazawa including stores in the area.

The coded braille block is made by colouring the 25 points of the braille block with resin and coding them, according to Kanazawa Institute of Technology’s official website.

Those looking to use the app can point their smartphones at the braille blocks, and upon doing so a green frame will appear and will offer text, voice and visual information to aid with directions.

The app utilizes “image recognition technology which can recognize coded tactile paving. First, the software recognizes where the black dot symbols have been added as a number and converts it to code. The smartphone’s image recognition software sends the code to a server, where a registered database of directions is accessed and returned to the smartphone. However, creating the directions database is quite challenging. Ideally, someone would go to the actual location and collect information, but that would take exorbitant amounts of time and effort, making it unrealistic,” Matsui said in an interview posted on the KIT website. 

On Braille Block Day, celebrated on March 18, a tweet was shared on @JapanGov outlining the app’s main functions with photographs of the blocks.

3/18 is #BrailleBlockDay in #Japan. Prof. MATSUI Kunio’s team at #KanazawaInstituteOfTechnology make "coded Braille blocks" that provide audio info via affixed codes read by a smartphone, helping both the visually impaired & tourists. https://t.co/ffyxpi7nFt#LandOfDiversity pic.twitter.com/Afm2rTXhk8

— The Gov't of Japan (@JapanGov) March 18, 2022

This app contributes to a more diverse society that includes everyone according to the institute’s website. It will also be more accessible to users as the app is available for free for both IOS and Android users and can be downloaded on the App Store and Google Play.