On passing, I mention that Raspberry PI is a compact and cheap computer with many sensors available and there is a screen reader that allow VI to be able to use it.
Can Raspberry PI be used by VI? The answer is positive. There are already VI using Raspberry PI with Raspbian and Orca. The latter is a screen reader. Unlike Apple, Raspbian (the most popular Linux distro) does not require application to comply to AT-SPI specification. Orca only works with apps that implements the specification. Just a few apps like Firefox, Mozilla, OpenOffice (those apps that probably most ordinary users will use) is able to work with Orca. Some programming tools like eclipse and Java can work with Orca too.
What apps ordinary VI will use? They most probably use browser to access Internet. It is a good source for learning.
They will probably also use LibreOffice Writer to do text proccessing. Some may use Calc to do spreadsheets. Experts may even use Base for database.
Email is quite common communication feature. Thunderbird, a Mozilla produce can be used as mail client. Major mail client can be web based.
With just the above few apps, it will cover most user's daily usage. More sophiscated users will probably use hand phones or laptop PC to suit their needs.
I propose to use Raspberry PI due to cost considerations. It costs about $50 to get a basic board. Just provide a few accessories like casing, power supply, and keyboard, you will get a complete system. With organisations providing free WiFi access, it will allow many who cannot afford to access this technology and be able to tap the vast range of data to upgrade themselves.
If you think that it is all that Raspberry PI can do, you should see what others use it to provide facilities for VI.
Raspberry PI have facility to plug in a large range of sensors and actuators. For example, user can use the camera module to take a picture of a book and use a OCR app to convert it to text thus allow user to read books.
Another use is to use the $3 Raspberry PI Zero, plug in a Bluetooth LE dongle and install a GitHub app to simulate an iBeacon. It is much cheaper than a hardware iBeacon. This simulated iBeacon can be used to make an indoor navigation system for VI.
Using a ultrasonic range sensor module, Raspberry PI can be turned into a navigation system by measuring the distance from an object.
The infrared transciever module can also be used to detect large objects for navigation use.
What about using the camera module to do object recognition? Branko Blagojevic had an offline object detection and tracking app on Raspberry PI using Yolo algorithm.
Raspberry PI is small but it is still a full Linux OS. It's processing power may be lower, but many things can be done with it.
AI is the trend. Raspberry can install Google TensorFlow to do deep learning. Microsoft is also providing AI for Raspberry PI.
With AI, robotics is next natural thing to do.
Are those technologies just empty talk? They are actually information taken from individual blogs and sites. Those people already done it.
To be neautral, the following are some issues that forms a hindrance to VI.
Raspberry PI does not come preinstalled with an OS. VI will not be able to install the OS without assistance.
Configuring the system to enable Orca is also not easy without voice.
Blind associations or companies may have to provide the device with OS and screen reader preinstalled.
There is a group that tried to assist VI in the use of Raspberry PI. The web address is https://www.raspberryvi.org. Download is disabled since 2016.
In conclusion, Raspberry PI can and be used by VI for various accessibility functionalities to improve the lives of VI.
The link to Raspberry PI is https://www.raspberrypi.org.
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