Abstract-The reported work advances the state-of-the-art in assistive technology for the blind by enhancing a low-cost automated tutor designed to teach braille writing skills to visually impaired children using voice feedback. We first provide some background on how the methodology of Intelligent Tutoring Systems correlates to an automated tutor for teaching braille writing skills. We then build on prior work to enhance our automated Braille Writing Tutor in three dimensions: (1) Initial field testing in three different countries; (2) Exploring customization needs for improving relevance in different cultures; and (3) Adding relevant games for increasing motivation. The outcome of this work is an enhanced low-cost tool that can help to increase braille literacy in blind communities around the world. I. INTRODUCTIONLMOST 90% of the world's visually impaired people live in developing communities [3] and it is estimated that less than 10% of the blind children in these communities have access to formal education [2]. Braille is a widely-used language that is the only means of literacy for blind people. Despite its significance and the accessibility it brings, learning to write braille still has a number of barriers. The traditional method of writing braille itself creates formidable challenges to literacy [1]. Each braille character is formed using 6 dots placed in a cell of two columns and three rows as shown in Figure 1 (a). A subset of these 6 dots is embossed to represent each character. The positions of the dots are universally numbered from 1 to 6 in a standardized manner. In developed countries, braille is usually embossed with a 6-key typewriter known as a Brailler. These devices are fast and easy to use but usually cost around US$650 each [4]. In developing countries, such devices are sometimes available in small quantities at schools but are prohibitively expensive and so braille is almost always written with a slate and stylus as shown in Figure 1 (b). Using these tools, braille is typically written from right to left so that the page can be read from left to right when it is This research was supported in part by the Qatar National Research Fund's National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) through grant #30-6-7-91, the Qatar National Research Fund's Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) through grant #4-15-6, the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, and discretionary gifts to the TechBridgeWorld research group at Carnegie Mellon University. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsors.removed from the slate and turned over. Thus, learning to write braille can be difficult for the following reasons. First, children must learn mirror images of all letters, which doubles the alphabet and creates a disparity between the written and read forms of each letter. Second, feedback is delayed until the paper is removed and then flipped over and read. For young children, this delay can make brail...

Abstract-This paper addresses the challenges and benefits of undergraduate robotics education in technologically underserved communities. We present two robotics courses that the authors designed and taught in Qatar and Ghana. While different in context and setting, these courses share a similar structure and approach. We describe and analyze our experiences in the two case studies, and extract lessons that are relevant to others teaching robotics; especially in underserved communities. We also address the impact of these courses on the local communities and the broader academic community.