rainbowman1 / hophacksfall2019

HophacksFall2019

A simple python script to read a page of a pdf and use Mathpix API to convert the page into LaTex code which in turn is coverted into Braille Text to aid visually impaired scientist/students. This project makes use of image manipulation through requests, numpy, and Pillow in python to create small images which the MathPix API can process, send them through the Mathpix API to be processed, and read the response to create a overall LaTex code. It then employs Braille font to create a Braille version of the pdf. The project saves 2 text files and 2 pdf files(given that the LaTex code had no error) which are the .tex/pdf copy of the compilied OCR from MathPix API and employment of Braille Script into the LaTex code.

Although several research is done in reading math equations as Braille Script, there is barely any working resource or libraries that help convert mathematical equations to braille. Even latex2mathml python package are full of bugs. As such due to the lack of framework to work with, a complete solution to braille conversion is out of the scope of the hackathon. A possible solution lies in conversion of LaTex to MathML and using the standard suggested by researchers to convert the MathML to Braille.

Further Readings on Braille and Mathematical Notation in Braille: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221010006_Translating_MathML_into_Nemeth_Braille_Code https://scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?httpsredir=1&article=1071&context=jsesd

To future readers, the project employs API from Mathpix that was available only during the hackathon so in order to use it in the future, one would require the app id and app key for the project to work. Also, the project expects users to have TexWorks installed with the proper Path environment variable set in place to invoke pdflatex.exe and xelatex.exe to convert the LaTex code. This guide http://sachaepskamp.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Install.pdf shows how to set the path variable. As for the braille fonts, they can be found in https://www.seewritehear.com/accessible-mathml/mathspeak/fonts/