Touch typing for the blind
For every contribution you make, we’ll donate a license of the Super Braille Keyboard to a blind person on your behalf.
An invisible innovative keyboard which for the first time enables touch typing and Braille typing on the touch screen itself!
One touch screen technology, two solutions:
1. Innovative single-handed touch typing
for both sighted and visually impaired users.
2.
Standard two-handed
Braille typing for the visually impaired.
What
would happen if you couldn't see your tablet or smartphone screen?
According to the World Health Organization there
are 285 million visually impaired people worldwide. They cannot type freely on
touch screen devices and are challenged by this every day.
They cannot see the screen nor can they feel the
touch screen keyboard in the same way as they can feel a regular physical
keyboard.
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Braille keyboards cost about $2000Third party Braille keyboards cost about $2,000, and even though they can work with tablets and smartphones they are quite cumbersome and unwieldly. Plus, as soon as you need to add a large piece of equipment to get a mobile device to work, then the tablet or smartphone loses much of its mobility and convenience. The UpSense Super Braille Keyboard obviates the need for any extra equipment making mobile devices just as mobile for everyone, whether sighted or visually impaired.
Inpris is led by a father and son team who passionately
believe that the opportunities and convenience offered by smart devices should
be available to all. We have developed the Braille of the 21st century
– the UpSense virtual keyboard.
UpSense is also great for the sighted
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This is the keyboard of the future – an invisible touch screen
keyboard based on intuitive finger gestures.
So you don’t have to see to type, you just have to feel the
touch screen.
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Creating the future
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We
have been working very hard for the last two years and we now have a very
robust Beta version of the UpSense Super Keyboard. We have given it to many people
for testing and with their insights and feedback we are close to releasing the commercial versions
of the UpSense Super Keyboard and UpSense Super
Braille Keyboard.
Up until
now we have been in bootstrap mode, investing only our own personal savings supplemented by a small grant for startups
from the Israeli Ministry of Economy. We now turn to you and ask for your
generous support to bring the future of touch screen typing to the world of
touch screen apps.
We are planning two products:
1.
UpSense Super Keyboard for single-handed
gesture typing
2.
UpSense Super Braille Keyboard for typing standard
Braille with two hands
How do I type
with UpSense?
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Testimonials
"Up until now we were forced to use large and unwieldy machines that took up a lot of space at home, but now we can use a lightweight device that is really convenient to use." – S. H.
"I had the opportunity to use the the Super Braille Keyboard and I had a very moving and positive experience." – T. G.
"There is no doubt that this is one of the most amazing developments of all time for the visually impaired community." – D. M.
Your Impact
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How our technology is validated
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We have been busy – here’s a summary of our accomplishments:
Over the past year we have tested
and retested version after version of the UpSense Super Keyboard. Each
iteration improved on the previous version, as we used testers from many
different backgrounds.
We completed the Hebrew University’s Siftech accelerator program – a four
month course for technology startups. In summer 2013 Inpris was selected as one
of only eight startups from all over the world for Google’s exciting and
prestigious two-week Blackbox program.
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In August 2013 we had the privilege of demonstrating UpSense to
Mr Shimon Peres, the president of the State of Israel, at Google Israel’s R&D headquarters.
He said: "This will be a tremendous help to millions of
people who until now had no alternative. It’s a brilliant idea."
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"Tnufa" grant from the Israeli Ministry of Economy
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The Team
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Inpris
was founded by father and son,
Ben-Etzion and Nissan Yaron. We believe in making the world of touch screens
accessible to all, regardless of ability. Together we have created the UpSense Super
Keyboard.
Inpris
was founded in 2011 in Israel, the startup capital of the world, and we have
been developing the UpSense technology for more than two years.
We
are not afraid to take risks in order to create superior products that function
exactly the way you need them.
Nissan
(son) is our CEO. He is a professional filmmaker, former head of the Jerusalem
Art Students Association and former head of a special intelligence unit in the
Israeli Army.
Ben-Etzion
(father) is our CTO. He is an experienced innovator and winner of the Kaye award
for innovation for a solution to the Y2K bug. Currently Ben-Etzion is Team
Leader at the Department of Computerized Information Systems at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem.
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Check
us out and we’d love to hear from you!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Inpris.keyboard
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nissany
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Inprisltd
E-mail: nissan@inprisltd.com
Donate
Support
us in our efforts to complete the UpSense Super Braille Keyboard and we will
donate free versions on your behalf to the visually impaired round the world.
We will work with non-profit organizations in different countries to provide
the UpSense Super Braille Keyboard to a wide audience and change their world.
Post campaign prices estimation:
One hand accessilbe version: $25-$50
Braille version: $75-$99
We’ve got Media coverage!
English
Shalomlife - Shimon Peres praises Inpris
Geektime - New keyboard may become the new
standard of typing
Israel21c - Top 10 incredible Israeli
advances in vision
Chipcheek - The UpSense keyboard presents
a radically new way to type on a tablet
Gigaom - Meet the companies
accepted into the first Google for Entrepreneurs program
Eyeway - UpSense allows the visually
impaired to use touch screens
INN - Inpris will change the way you type on your smartphone
BGR - Upsense is an invisible, Braille-friendly keyboard for your tablet
Spanish
Vidamaislivre - "empresa lan?a solu??o
para escrever sem ver"
Orange Spain - "UpSense, una forma
diferente de escribir en tu tablet Android"
Think Big - Accesibilidad en la era de los dispositivos de pantalla táctil
German
Android-user - Inpris presentiert Braille-Keyboard UpSense
Hebrew
Channel
2 (Israel) - פיתוח ישראלי יאפשר גם ללקויי ראיה לכתוב בעזרת מסך מגע
Geektime - מצעד פרוייקטי מימון ההמונים שאהבנו השבוע
Y-net - מצמצמים את הפער, טכנולוגיות מותאמות לעיוורים
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100% of the funds we raise on Indiegogo will be used to
complete the first commercial version of the UpSense Super Keyboard.
All commercial software apps require the highest standards in order to succeed in a very competitive marketplace. This is doubly so when working with the visually impaired community, as they can't just check out a video, rely on visual cues on the screen or flick through a user guide.
So to reach our goal we need to consult with expert user experience advocates, work with top notch developers and run really rigorous QA testing in order to deliver an experience that exceeds our users' expectations. We need to provide them with a seamless transition from legacy Braille products to the UpSense Super Braille Keyboard on their tablet devices.
These extra development requirements are why we need a final $50,000 of your support in order to make our dream a reality and boost the quality of life for so many millions of people around the globe.
Development Roadmap
2-4 months: launching UpSense
Super Braille Keyboard for Android
4-6 months: launching UpSense Super Keyboard for
single-handed gesture typing for Android
Demo app for iOS in Q3, 2014
With your support we can make the keyboard fully accessible to both the
visually impaired and sighted communities, and make it possible to type whole
sentences using intuitive gestures.
How Else Can I Help?
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Spread the word to your
friends, family and of course to those who are visually impaired! This is not
only an innovative way for the visually impaired to use touchscreens,
it’s life-changing
…and
tell us how you imagine the gestures for typing your alphabet!
