THE EXISTING SIGN
Essential, but easy to miss.
It contains the right information, but only once the person is already standing at the correct place.
OPEN BRAILLE BEACON / CONCEPT SYSTEM
Find the sign.
Feel the way.
A silent wall tag and a wearable haptic receiver, to help people locate existing tactile and Braille signage.
Concept visual · Device details subject to validation
Scroll to explore01 / THE GAP
Braille signs are essential.
But they only help once you’ve found them.
The problem is discovery: tactile signs are useful only after someone has found the door, elevator, exit, stairway, information point, or Braille sign that carries them.
It is not indoor navigation, obstacle detection, or a replacement for a white cane, guide dog, orientation and mobility training, tactile signage, or personal safety judgment.
PHONE-FIRST TOOLS
Useful, but can add friction.
They may require a screen, audio, headphones, an account, or a reliable connection when a simple physical cue would do.
INDOOR NAVIGATION
A different, larger promise.
It can need maps and infrastructure—and should not imply a precise route, direction, or guarantee of safe passage.
02 / THE CUE STAYS WITH THE SIGN
The sign is still
the destination.
A compact beacon sits beside the existing tactile sign. The receiver helps someone locate that point; the tactile sign remains the source of information.
- Placement
- Beside existing tactile signage
- Signal
- Silent BLE identifier
- Boundary
- Assistive cue, not navigation
Concept visual · Installation details subject to validation
03 / TWO QUIET DEVICES
One tag on the wall.
One destination in hand.
WALL BEACON TAG
Silent by design.
A compact BLE tag sits beside an existing tactile point of interest. It advertises a small identifier and minimal metadata—without sound, cloud services, or tracking.
- Power
- One CR2032 in v1
- Signal
- Bluetooth Low Energy
- Role
- Marks a tactile point
HAPTIC RECEIVER CLIP
Private feedback, one selected destination to avoid noise.
A wearable receiver scans a space, lets the user select one compatible tag, then uses haptics as the selected signal becomes stronger.
- Interaction
- One-button concept
- Feedback
- Haptic, not constant audio
- Focus
- Navigate to one destination without noise
04 / HAPTIC SYSTEM
Feedback you can feel.
One calm signal.
Guide mode intentionally ignores every unselected beacon. Haptic feedback stays private, local, and focused on the destination the user chose.
HAPTIC, NOT CONSTANT AUDIO
Rhythm communicates proximity.
The receiver can shift from slow to faster pulses as the approximate signal of the selected tag changes.
01
ROOM SCAN
Scan
Detect compatible beacons nearby. Nothing guides the user yet.
02
ONE TARGET
Select
Short press cycles choices. Long press confirms one destination.
03
GUIDE MODE
Feel proximity
Only the selected tag drives haptics: far, medium, near.
04
STANDBY
Arrive or cancel
A distinct pattern marks arrival. Long press cancels at any time.
A SELECTED SIGNAL, NOT A CROWD OF ALERTS
The receiver feels one target at a time.
Many tags may exist in a room. Only the selected tag shapes the haptic pattern during guide mode.
05 / OPEN BUILD LOG
A concept with its work
still visible.
Open Braille Beacon is at the concept-and-roadmap stage. The work below is documented in the repository so the path to a bench-tested prototype stays inspectable.
01
02
03
04
Protocol v0.1
Compact BLE fields and selected-tag behavior are specified.
Parametric CAD
Tag enclosure models are available as working source.
Haptic interaction
The one-button, single-target v1 flow is defined.
Bench validation next
Fit, power, signal stability, and haptic behavior still need physical testing.
06 / WHAT FUNDING UNLOCKS
NEXT
BUILD
Turn the concept into a bench-tested prototype.
Funding will cover the small, real parts needed to move from specification to evidence: BLE modules, tag power hardware, a receiver development board, a haptic motor with its proper driver, fit-test prints, and signal-validation fixtures.
The goal is not a polished promise. It is repeatable hardware evidence, clear limits, and an open record of what works next.
07 / BUILD IN THE OPEN
Make tactile information
easier to find.
Contributions are welcome across CAD, BLE and firmware, practical hardware testing, documentation, and accessibility review.