Tactilelink Sistimi ya Thuto ya Ditshwantsho tse Amuwang ka Nuoran Chen, Yilin Niu and Siming Jin

Moralo oa Tactilelink Sistimi ya Thuto ya Ditshwantsho tse Amuwang ka Nuoran Chen, Yilin Niu and Siming Jin ke mohlodi oa khau e hlomphehang haholo ya 2026 Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award Mokhahleong oa Tlhodisano oa Moralo wa Thuto, Dithuso tsa ho Ruta le Dikahare tsa Koetliso.

BoronseThuto· 2026

Tactilelink Sistimi ya Thuto ya Ditshwantsho tse Amuwang

ka Nuoran Chen, Yilin Niu and Siming Jin

Moreki: Nuoran Chen

Mohlodi oa Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award Mokhahleong oa Thuto

7,220

Mohlodi oa Khau ea Netefaditsweng

Netefatsa Boemo ba Khau bakeng sa #177478

Sheba ho A' Design Award Tokollo ya Boraditaba Baeche ya Moputso

Mebala

Moralo

Mabapi le Tactilelink Sistimi ya Thuto ya Ditshwantsho tse Amuwang

Tactilelink ke sistimi ya thuto ya ditshwantsho tse amuwang bakeng sa baithuti ba foufetseng le ba nang le bothata ba pono. Thuto ya setso ya letsoho hodima letsoho e fokotsa boipuso ba moithuti mme e itshetlehile ka palo e nyane ya matichere a ditsebi. Tactilelink e kopanya foreime ya thablete e hatisitsweng ka 3D, ditshwantsho tsa mela e phahamisitsweng ya didayakramo tsa potoloho ya motlakase le softewere e sebetsang diplatfomong tse fapaneng. Tshebediso ya modumo e tataisa moithuti e mong le e mong ho ya karolong eo ho lebisitsweng ho yona, kaha bophahamo le matla a modumo di fetoha ho ya ka sebaka sa monwana. Matichere a ka latela baithuti ba bangata ka nako e le nngwe mme a lokisetsa ditlhaloso tsa modumo bakeng sa tekolo e ikemetseng ka mora tlelase.

Kamohelo

Mabapi le Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award

Tactilelink Sistimi ya Thuto ya Ditshwantsho tse Amuwang ke mohapi oa Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award, kananelo e hlomphehang haholo e fuoang meralo e ikhethang e tsejoang ka boqapi, bohlale ba ho qapa le bohlale. Bahapi ba Boronse ke lintho tse nang le bokhoni ka ho felletseng le boqapi bo hlollang tse tiisang boiphihlelo bo bongata, mohopolo le bokhoni ba ho iphumana ba baqapi ba tsona. Tactilelink Sistimi ya Thuto ya Ditshwantsho tse Amuwang e lebelletsoe ho ba ntho e hlomphuoang haholo, e ratoang le e ratehang, e nang le boprofeshenale bo bonahalang le mehopolo e mecha. Moralo ona o hapileng Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award o kenyelletsa mekhoa e metle ka ho fetesisa bonong, mahlaleng, moralong le theknolojing mme o hlahella ka ho tsepamisa maikutlo lintlheng tse nyenyane. Tactilelink Sistimi ya Thuto ya Ditshwantsho tse Amuwang e kutloisisa litlhoko hantle, e ama litakatso, e hapa maikutlo mme e tsosa takatso ea ho tseba.

Ka Mora Moralo

Sete ya Boraditaba

Litlhaku, ditho tsa sehlopha le lintlha tsa botekgeniki tse fanoeng ke moetsi wa moralo.

Boleng bo Ikhethang: Tactilelink is an affordable tactile graphic education system for blind and visually impaired students. Traditional hand-over-hand instruction limits students' independence and strains an already scarce specialist workforce. SoundPath lets a single instructor guide multiple students at once through sonification and voiceover annotations, making tactile graphic learning accessible, scalable, and independent.
Boholo le Phuthelo: The physical components include a 3D-printed tablet frame (290 × 226 × 7 mm) and several tactile graphics of Arduino diagrams (279.4 × 215.9 mm). The digital component is cross-platform software that works as both a tablet app and a desktop web app, creating a flexible teaching system.
Lithegi: Accessibility, Tactile graphic, Education system, Inclusive education, Blind Arduino
Theknoloji ya Tlhahiso: Tactilelink is built with simplicity, affordability, and accessibility in mind. For student’s system, it combines 3D-printed tablet frames with software optimized for common educational tablets, ensuring easy setup and scalability. It uses sonification to guide students in exploring and learning raised-line graphics. For instructor’s system, it’s an one-step, AI empowered software help they instruct multiple students easily, reducing their workload, expanding the educational capacity to more underserved blind students.
Phephetso ya Moralo: The hardest part was shifting from designer to facilitator. Co-design challenged us to suspend our assumptions, especially as sighted designers. We wrongly assumed blind users would prefer vibration cues over sound. In reality, sonification was less fatiguing and more effective. This required overcoming internal bias, embracing user knowledge, and adapting to insights often overlooked due to our own perspective.
Dipatlisiso: This research is user-centered design. Our goal was to create an affordable system for teaching tactile graphics to visually impaired students. We observed Blind Arduino sessions and collaborated with the East Bay Center for the Blind, then used co-design workshops, Wizard of Oz prototyping, and usability testing with teachers and students. Results showed sonification on existing hardware best supported group learning, offering insights that impact education, accessibility, and inclusive design.
Kgothaletso: The idea came from observing an Arduino class at the East Bay Center for the Blind, where one instructor had to physically guide each student's hands through circuit diagrams one by one. With nearly 5,000 specialist teachers short across the U.S., this one-on-one model is unsustainable. Inspired by sonification, we use continuous pitch changes to guide students to target components independently, enabling one teacher to instruct multiple students simultaneously, in person or remotely.
Nako ya Projeke: This project started in August 2024 and finished in December 2024.
Tsamaiso ya Mosebetsi: During class, the instructor taps a selected component on the tactile graphic for students to explore. Students navigate to the component following sonification guidance: the pitch and intensity of the sound shift based on how close their finger is to the target. Teacher can observes their progress on their interface to provide real-time support. After class, teachers could use the software to create detailed audio annotation and design the component-learning sequence, publishing it to student’s device. Students could review the knowledge independently without teacher’s presence by following the sonification guidance.
Litho tsa Sehlopha: Nuoran Chen
Yilin Niu
Siming (Susie) Jin