This document introduces ChorusText, a text navigation device for visually impaired users created by David Effendi. It consists of three motorized sliders controlled by an Arduino board that allow users to precisely navigate text without sight. The document outlines the hardware components, software used, and goals of making the device affordable and modular. It envisions future integrations with chat, Wikipedia, desktops and browsers to improve accessibility. The creator hopes to advance the technology to help more people and sees many applications beyond accessibility.

1. Welcome!
David Effendi
GNOME Asia Summit 2015
University of Indonesia

2. The Problem
● I have a lousy eyesight and I must edit some
text...
– Where's the cursor?
– Where am I in the text?
– How to navigate through the body of the text and
quickly “zero-in” on portion(s) that needs to be
changed?
– and then check if that change was typed
correctly?

3. The Original “Spark”
● Head tracking device using IMU
● Natural movement through the text
● Lightweight
● But what if.....

4. The Thing Today
● Three motorized sliders, eliminates:
– Moving to the right, but straying up/downwards
– Extended fixation strain
– Inaccuracy when returning to the text
– Incidental / jerky / reflex movements
● Desk-bound

5. The Demo
● Now this is the fun part :)
● Reading text (non-visual and visual)
● Importing text
● Editing text
● Change language
● Change speech rate and spelling rate

6. The Components (Hardware)
● Slide potentiometers (motorized!)
● Rotary potentiometers (1 motorized, 2 normal)
● Push buttons
● Arduino (UNO to Mega)
● Adafruit Motor Shield (v2!)
● PcDuino3 (or other Linux SBCs equivalent or
better, or just plain laptop/desktop)

7. The Components (Software)
● Espeak text-to-speech
● Arduino
● Node.js + Angular.js + Socket.io

8. The Philosophy
● Easy-to-find hardware components
● Be the “next-step” after Arduino Inventor's Kit
● Interchangeable / modular hardware components –
no “big black box”, “RYO” (re-use your own)
components
● Easy to isolate each components, to learn how it
works, how to modify and how to re-use it in other
projects
● Education first, Economy second

9. The Next Steps
● Social chat
● Wikipedia reader
● GNOME desktop integration
● IDE (!)
● Web-browser / Elinks / full browser integration

10. The Reason Why
● “There won't be any money in this”
● “And you will lose income, do you know that?”
● “You have a wife and a kid, you're not being
responsible!”
● “Are you crazy??”

11. The Reason Why
● I just want this problem nailed
● I dont want to be another bystander
● It “floats all boats”

12. Mary TTS – A Special Shoutout
● GREAT NATURAL sounding
● Runs on OpenJDK
● More resource intensive
● Software is less robust
● Indonesian Voice (!)

13. The Case For Text-To-Speech
●
NOT only for accessibility / disability
●
Voice-enhanced queueing systems
●
Announcement systems – public transport, events, etc
●
Speed-reading while commuting
●
Wearables / headless systems (e.g. “checklist” application)
●
In-vehicle applications (e.g. GPS Navigation)
●
Low-bandwith podcasting
●
Computerized exams
●
TTS for Bahasa Indonesia = 260 million people immediately
benefits!

14. The Influencer
● Dear Programmer, A Special Note...

15. Code, build, hack
COBUHA!
:)

16. Thank you! :)
Email:
kurakuradave@gmail.com
GitHub:
Www.github.com/kurakuradave/chorustext/
Website:
Www.chorustext.org
Next Public Event:
Maker Faire Singapore 2015, 11th-14th July 2015