KEY POINTS:
A robot and special computer are helping New Zealand blind children learn to write for the first time.
The system works by combining a touch-screen computer and a robotic arm. As a teacher draws on the screen, a pen on the arm writes the shapes.
The children hold
the pen in one hand, learning the motion involved in drawing the shapes, while their other hand rests on a tactile pad, bringing up the letter shapes for them to feel.
As they write, a computerised voice speaks the letters.
The technology, borrowed from that used in virtual surgery, has gained its Auckland University developer Dr Beryl Plimmer international recognition.
Beginning the research with colleagues when on sabbatical at Glasgow University in 2006, Dr Plimmer is now in Italy where she will this week be presented with an international science award for the work.
Rachel Blagojevic, an Auckland University PhD student who worked on the development with Dr Plimmer, said they had tried to use every sensory input they could, to substitute for the children's lack of sight.
The result was a first in combining such sensory techniques with teaching blind children to write, she said. Learning to write was very hard for children born fully blind, as they had no concept of letters and a very limited idea of spatial awareness.
But the development was fun for the children, and despite a small trial size of only eight children, the results had been extremely positive, she said.
The research had focused on teaching the children how to sign their names. While in the past blind people had learnt to sign their names using stencils, or had simply written an "X", neither were good enough, Mrs Blagojevic said.
For mortgage documents, signing passports and other legal documents, a well-developed signature was imperative, she said.
There was also a social positive to learning their signatures, as it enabled them to do something taken for granted by the rest of society.
Dr Plimmer said the technology was allowing children to gain mental imprints of letter shapes, something they had not been able to do before.
"By using this technology, we are hoping children can be taught not only the shape of the letters but the pen strokes, and how to join the letters of their name to form a signature."
Mrs Blagojevic said it was too early to say whether the development could be commercially viable.