IJASEIT

International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology, Vol. 7 (2017) No. 4-2: Special Issue on the Emerging Trends in Software Engineering and Soft Computing Applications, pages: 1492-1497, Chief Editor: Shahreen Kasim Editorial Boards: Rohayanti Hassan, Hairulnizam Mahdin, Mohd Farhan Md Fudzee & Azizul Azhar Ramli, DOI:10.18517/ijaseit.7.4-2.3399

Braille2Alpha: Braille Dots Recognition with Alphanumeric Conversion

Abidah Zainal, Aida Mustapha, Mohd Zainuri Saringat, Pravind Raja

Abstract

The Braille system is a tactile language where each element is represented by a cell with six dot positions, arranged in three rows and two columns. Each dot position can be raised or otherwise allowing different configurations which can be felt by trained fingers. For caregivers with normal sights, training their fingers is not naturally easy. This paper presents an image processing approach to Braille dots recognition with alphanumeric conversion, whereby a person with normal eyesight is able to translate a raw Braille image captured by a mobile camera into the corresponding alphanumeric texts. Image pre-processing relies heavily on various segmentation algorithms in the MATLAB image processing Toolbox. This application is hoped to help the blind and the visually impaired community as well as their caregivers to translate Braille texts digitally, hence enhancing the communication and collaboration possibilities.