Students from the National University of Quilmes manufactured the world’s first talking clock with free software so that blind people can play chess on equal terms with the rest. The idea, which arose within the framework of the seminar “Introduction to Electronics and Controller Programming with Arduino” of the University Technician in Computer Programming, was carried out by Miguel Barraza, Juan Contardo and Leandro Otel. With the accompaniment of the teacher José Luis Di Biase, they presented their development on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The goal is that Anyone with a knowledge of the subject can assemble their own watch, which is why the information on how and with what components they were made is available on the web.. The dream is that it be enabled by the International Chess Federation and replace the traditional clock.
The adaptation of the board and the pieces for blind people is a reality. In fact, it is a very widespread practice that has tournaments that are held throughout the country. However, the difficulty lies in the clock (device used to count the time invested by each player when thinking about their movements during a game), whose components, in their traditional format, are all visual.
“One of the problems we have is that the talking chess clock is only available in Spain or India, and a lot of money is needed to bring it to Argentina“, account Miguel Barrazaprogrammer, student of the Technical Department and founder together with a group of blind people of a chess association in 2008, in dialogue with the UNQ Scientific News Agency.
Unlike the visual, the talking clock has another logic because, in addition to showing, it has to give audible information such as alarms, messages and notices related to playing time.
free and open
For the final work of the seminar, Barraza and his colleagues set out to make a talking chess clock. The development was entirely carried out with free hardware and software.which means that it does not have patents and it has an open source so that anyone who programmers can make modifications and improvements to the equipment.
“The philosophy we use is look for all the possibilities so that the person who wants to replicate it does not have license problems”, Barraza points out. Everything that the members of the project chose to put on the clock is free. For example, the voice and the audios are available on the internet – you can even record your own voice to add it to the menu. Also, the boards and the language they used to create the software is also open.
reach everywhere
For Barraza and company it is not a matter of making money. “The idea is that it is not our project, but that it becomes part of the community so that more people can join in improving it and that some place can manufacture it”, says the programmer.
For the presentation of the final work, the students did it manually, almost like craftsmen. The model, whose construction, materials and steps to follow can be found on the web, was made with elements that are in any home or are easy to get. They even left the links of the places where they bought the plates and missing elements. The final price was approximately 110 thousand pesos. However, producing at scale in a place that has the right machines could cut your cost in half.
dreaming costs nothing
The talking clock could replace the visual one since it has the necessary elements to do so. However, to play professionally, you need the endorsement of the International Chess Federation (FIDE, for its acronym in French). Faced with this situation, Barraza’s wish is for the Federation to enable a talking clock with free software so that access is more inclusive.
“I hope this project serves to solve a global problem for that blind people can have a watch and play as equals with people without visual impairment”, closes the chess player.