Orbit Teacher Remote

Remote braille teaching app for the Orbit Reader family of braille displays

The Orbit Teacher Remote is a revolutionary system for teachers to easily provide braille instruction to blind students remotely using Orbit Reader braille displays and an Android app. It enables seamless interaction between the teacher and student over the internet, providing the same type of experience as they would have face-to-face. While this is critically important during the pandemic it is also extremely useful during normal times due to the limited availability of specially trained Teachers of the Visually Impaired.

The Orbit Teacher platform enables teachers in mainstream classrooms to interact with blind students through an app on a smartphone, computer, or tablet. The app connects over Bluetooth to the student’s Orbit Reader braille display and provides a real-time text translation of the braille being read or written by the student. The latest version now provides the same capability remotely, over the internet. It allows the teacher to view the student’s braille display, monitor what they are learning, and even type and navigate on the student’s device, in a manner similar to screen-sharing software used on computers.

Orbit Teacher Remote bridges the gap between the student and teacher in remote learning.

The system requires an Orbit Reader braille display for the student and an inexpensive Android tablet or phone to provide internet connectivity. The teacher just needs an Android device to run the Orbit Teacher app and optionally, an Orbit Reader braille display. The Orbit Reader is connected via Bluetooth to the Orbit Teacher app on the Android tablet or phone, which is connected to the internet via Wi-Fi or over the cellular network. The app is fully accessible through the Talkback screen reader.

The system is simple to set up and the app guides the teacher and student through this one-time process. After this, the system can be used instantly at any time. A connection history feature allows the teacher to rapidly reconnect with students.

The teacher and student can talk over the phone, Zoom, Skype, or any other method of their choice. Once the connection is established and the student begins using their Orbit Reader, the teacher’s app immediately shows the contents of the student’s braille display and mirrors it as the student works. The contents are shown in a braille font as well as visual fonts on the app’s screen. If the teacher connects their own Orbit Reader to the tablet it will mirror the braille from the student’s unit.

The teacher can fully control and operate the student’s Orbit Reader unit, including control of operations such as opening files, reading, editing, configuring the device through the menu, etc.

An integrated file-transfer feature allows the exchange of classwork and homework materials between the student and teacher. The platform is capable of supporting over 40 languages and also offers the ability to translate to and from contracted braille.