Have you ever wondered how it would be like to read Braille? Have you ever wanted to use other senses than vision to learn? Worldwide, about 40 million people do it on a daily basis. This is one of the reasons that pushed Franck Ferrandon and his team to create Yoocan3d, along with personal history and Chris Anderson’s book, ‘Makers’, a great source of inspiration to him.
Yoocan3D is an online software developed by Activsoft, that translates typed texts into Braille. What is the connection with 3D printing? A software converts Braille into an .stl file for easily printable 3D inscriptions of 4mm thickness. It offers a solution and more independence at many situations the visually-impaired are confronted with: no need for someone to read the menu anymore, security instructions in hotels and elevators are accessible, and so on. Exemples are various and abundant. The best part is anyone can use it without any knowledge in Braille nor 3D printing! The only thing needed is the intention to help blind people to an easier life.
This project has though its fair amount of challenges. Not only printers used need to be professional or semi-professional, but also are not accessible (yet) by visually-impaired people. Given the success of initiatives such as ‘Touchable Memories’ for example, and the tests Franck ran with his Leapfrog Creatr, a bright future is promised to Yoocan3D.
You can ask @Franck questions here, or go to Yoocan3d website.
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Thanks for sharing it with us, Julie! Projects like these will surely empower the visually impaired to understand their surroundings better, so hopefully will see more of them.
Thanks for sharing Julie check out Talk Manufacturing | Hubs for more project similar to this maybe even possibility for collaboration.
Awesome, thank a lot! @Franck could be interested maybe 
I see lots of possibilties to print menu card etc. awesome to do with a leapfrog
where can i buy the software?
