Braille-enabled Computer Recognized as ‘Cool’ at Google I/O

The saying ‘information at your fingertips’ is about to take on a new dimension. Orion 18, a Braille-enabled computer was unveiled at Google I/O (Google’s Developer Conference) last month by one of our customers, LevelStar LLC.  It was named one of the 16 coolest demos at the show (the Orion 18 entry is here), and for those who can’t see or have vision impairments, I think it’s even cooler.  This device contains 18 Braille cells and runs Android allowing blind users to browse the internet, inputting with Braille and having the machine read results aloud.

Getting it right the first time

Jeff Sutherland, one of our sales agents over at FOM Systems, has been working closely with the folks at LevelStar to bring this product to life. The Orion contains 2 PCBs and 3 flex circuits, all designed with CADSTAR, our price/performance PCB design package.  The main board is 8 layers, employing fine line design, blind and buried micro-vias and lots of high-speed design constraints.

As the hardware architect on the project, Sutherland noted: “I’ve used a number of CAD programs over the last 25 years, and cannot imagine using anything but CADSTAR to create a complex design like this. In addition, Board Modeler Lite, a solution that bridges the gap between electronic and mechanical design, proved to be crucial to the successful packaging of the product.  There was a lot of back and forth with STEP models between the industrial design folks and us but everything did fit the first time around.”

Check out our on-demand Board Modeler Webinar

We recently ran a webinar on electromechanical design for Board Modeler within our CR-5000 product flow, but the same principles apply in CADSTAR; follow this link to the Board Modeler webinar and learn more about how it can help you maximize your design space, cut down on iterations, and produce more accurate designs in less time, just like FOM Systems and LevelStar.