Introducing the next generation of the Canute Braille display technology for blind scientists, technologists, students, and enthusiasts: Canute Scientific. Designed to empower Braille readers who are studying, researching, working and creating in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Canute Scientific puts the data and sophisticated tools you need to use at your fingertips.

Representing a major evolution in multi-line refreshable Braille access, the Canute Scientific has been developed in close co-operation with the blind Braille reading community. The Canute Scientific’s suite of applications have been developed as a direct result with discussions with end users to provide real world solutions they need in their study and work places.

Create, Collaborate, Calculate

Canute Scientific has been designed around more than a decade’s feedback we’ve had on our existing products and their prototypes, the Canute 360 and the Canute Console. It focuses on high value added use-cases in technical and scientific subjects where its use will directly contribute to a blind user’s productivity, earning potential, and creativity. These use cases include astronomy, data analytics, robotics, computer science, graph theory, and the list is growing every month.

You can make the Scientific the center of your technology development workflow. The Scientific is compatible with all Raspberry Pi breakout boards, sensors, drives, cameras, robotics kits, audio and video extensions, GPIO boards and more, which can be added to Canute Scientific internally or connected externally via the 40 pin I/O out. Canute Scientific can interpret video input, RS232, Centronix, numerous other serial and parallel connections and can be used to control laboratory equipment and read back data from said equipment as spatial tactile read-outs in graphs, diagrams or tables.

Canute Scientific is the first computer to feature parity of display data for tactile readers and visual readers. The built-in visual monitor and the Braille display update to show the same information with the same layouts. This means a blind business owner can better check their sighted employee’s work, a sighted colleague can develop a tactile document for their blind colleague, or two totally blind students can develop a spacial, visual application without sighted assistance. With a Braille display that mirrors the visuals, and visuals mirroring the Braille, it unleashes new creativity in the field of tactile applications.

Features & Specifications

System and software

• Free and Open Source
• OS: Raspberry Pi OS (Debian based) running from the command line in XTerm
• Built in Braille screenreaders: BRLTTY, ORCA

Compatibility as an peripheral display:

• Multiline: BRTTY on Windows/Linux/BSD/Mac and Orca on Linux
• Single line: NVDA on Windows and Narrator on Windows
• Future support intended for: JAWS on Windows, Voiceover on Mac, NVDA multi-line

Braille display

• Braille cells: 40 cells by 9 lines
• Braille cell type: Six dot
• Braille quality: Hard 'signage' Braille; cannot be compressed during actuation or once actuated; once set locks up
• Cell dot height: 0.5 mm (~0.01 in)
• Cell dot radius: 0.6 mm (~0.02 in)
• Cell dot spacing: 2.5 mm (~0.09 in)
• Cell spacing: 6.5 mm (0.25 in) dot 1 to dot 1
• Line spacing: 15.5 mm (~0.6 in) dot 1 to dot 1 (10.5 mm / 0.41 in dot 3 to dot 1)
• Dot material: White Delrin (POM-H)
• Actuation: Addressable per line, sequential refresh of addressed lines

Chassis

• Dimensions: 37 x 34 x 4 cm (14.5 x 13.5 x 1.4 in) (when open, add 0.4 in or 1 cm of height for lid when closed)
• Weight: ~4 kg (~8.81 lbs)
• Three part aluminium chassis designed for in-the-field modification and repairs without full disassembly
• Built-in heavy duty carrying handle for convenience of travel
• Aluminium and ABS-like powder printed lid covering the Braille display, with a 13-inch high contrast visual monitor

Processors and ports

External ports will be modular and interchangeable but by default include the processors, ports, and functions of the included Raspberry Pi 5 SBC:

• Broadcom BCM2712 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit CPU
• 512 KB per-core L2 caches and 2MB shared L3 cache
• Options for 4 to 16 GB of LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM
• 2.4GHz 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth (internal or with external dongle)
• 40 pin GPIO
• Wi-Fi antenna connector
• 3x USB Type-A
• 1x USB Type-C out, including video out
• Full sized SD card slot
• 3.5 mm combined audio jack

• Modular user-modifiable internal break-out board array
• Raspberry Pi Zero as second computer on Braille display PCB
• 2x reflashable ATmega32u4 on Braille display PCB

Open Source

Bristol Braille is committing to making the hardware and software of the device open so customers can maintain, upgrade and repair their machines independent of Bristol Braille if they choose to. As such, the Canute Scientific is released under a license allowing you to modify, hack or tinker with your system.

Chassis schematics, PCB design files like board layouts and project files, firmware and the bill of materials are under development and will be released before the first products are shipped to customers. Blueprints, circuit diagrams and bills of materials can be viewed on the Scientific itself in the appropriate spatial applications. The Canute Scientific is available as mains only or with an optional battery pack. We also support user-swappable batteries.

On top of that Bristol Braille maintains Open Source repositories for the Canute Scientific’s custom Tactile Commons applications. We invite and regularly accept contributions from the community to these repositories and once a month we meet as Braille Space, a hackspace dedicated to creating new Open Source tactile applications.

Interested in This Project?

You can sign up at the top of this page to be notified when the campaign launches and to receive other updates. We only send out relevant content, and you can unsubscribe at any time.