A software algorithm prototype for optical recognition of embossed Braille

Braille is a tactile format of written communication for sight-impaired people worldwide. This paper proposes a software solution prototype to optically recognise single sided embossed Braille documents using a simple image processing algorithm and probabilistic neural network. The output is a Braille text file formatted to preserve the layout of the original document which can be sent to an electronic embosser for reproduction. Preliminary experiments have been performed with an excellent recognition rate, where the transcription accuracy is at 99%.