Expertise for over 50 years
Armin Papenmeier, son of the company founder
Our company founder, Friedrich-Horst Papenmeier already had the will and ability to find innovative solutions for special problems. Twenty years after the company was founded, the RehaTechnik competence division was established. Our commitment to innovative solutions for the technical challenges faced by blind and visually impaired people has accompanied us for over 50 years and continues to be our daily motivation today.
1975
In the early 1970s, Papenmeier collaborated with Prof. Dr. Werner Boldt from the University of Dortmund on a research project. The result was presented to the public in 1975: BRAILLEX, the first device with an electronic Braille display. This laid the foundation for the RehaTechnik division.
BRAILLEX stored information and displayed it in Braille on the electronic Braille display. Information could be entered via the keyboard and saved under a keyword. Later, the information could be retrieved using this keyword. BRAILLEX became very popular. Users especially preferred BRAILLEX because of its simple operation and the fast retrieval of information.
1979
In 1979, Papenmeier received the Louis Braille Prize for BRAILLEX. Today, the BRAILLEX prototype is exhibited as a milestone in technology for the blind at the German Museum in Munich. BRAILLEX was sold in its original form for more than 10 years. During this time, it was modified several times: for example, the floppy disk drive replaced data storage on audio cassettes. A serial interface was added to enable connection to other devices. This allowed BRAILLEX to be connected to a memory typewriter, a Braille printer, or one of the emerging home computers.
Later, Papenmeier developed new Braille displays for connection to computers according to the needs of blind computer users. BRAILLEX became the trademark of an entire product family of Braille displays from Papenmeier.
1979
In the early 1980s, blind stenographers and typists used a memory typewriter with an LCD. The information displayed on the LCD was simultaneously shown in Braille on a Braille display. This device was called the BRAILLEX Control. People with advanced needs used the first freely programmable computer with an integrated Braille display, the BRAILLEX PC.
1985
The first Braille display for connection to IBM PCs and compatibles, the BRAILLEX IB 80, was introduced to the market. With this hardware solution, blind users were able to access all PCs and any software as long as they operated in pure text mode.
1991
In this year, the innovative Braille display BRAILLEX 2D Screen was introduced to help blind PC users keep pace with the changes in the PC world. In addition to displaying the screen information, the BRAILLEX 2D Screen enabled blind users to get an overview of the structure of the entire screen content. The increasing use of graphical user interfaces in software development presented a new challenge for Papenmeier. In 1979, Papenmeier received the Louis Braille Award for BRAILLEX. Today, the BRAILLEX prototype is exhibited as a milestone of technology for the blind at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. BRAILLEX was sold in its original version for more than 10 years. During this time, it was modified several times; for example, the floppy disk drive replaced audio cassette storage. A serial interface was added to enable connection to other devices. This allowed BRAILLEX to be connected to a braille typewriter, a braille printer, or one of the emerging home computers. Later, Papenmeier developed new braille displays tailored to the needs of blind computer users, designed for connection to computers. BRAILLEX became the brand name for an entire product family of braille displays from Papenmeier.
1994
Through forward-looking development activities, in 1994 Papenmeier met the challenges of graphical user interfaces with the product WinDOTS. WinDOTS translates graphical user interfaces into text, allowing blind PC users to work with Windows just like sighted users, since the special Windows structure is preserved. WinDOTS is especially easy to use and quickly became a bestseller.
1999
Since mid-1999, Papenmeier has been distributing the screen reader JAWS from Henter-Joyce. Since spring 1999, a new generation of Braille displays has been available, offering a completely new level of user comfort with the navigation bar. As a special control element, all BRAILLEX EL models feature a navigation bar that allows much more efficient work.
2009
Since December 2009, the new high-resolution document camera VISULEX Eagle Pro has been on the market. VISULEX Eagle Pro is the first document camera to deliver a true-to-life image in widescreen format. People affected by RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa) have high demands for a high-resolution camera system. VISULEX Eagle Pro convinces with an extremely high resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels and a low initial magnification (1.1x). This functionality helps in perceiving as much text as possible.
2000 until today
Participation in international research projects, including those funded by the EU.
- TeDUB – 2002 to 2004
- Basisbraille – 2000 to 2002
- ENABLED – 2004 to 2007
- ProGuide – 2006 to 2008
- ProGuide2 – 2008 to 2010
- HyperBraille – 2007 to 2011
- Hospital Engineering – Innovation paths for the hospital of the future (collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute) 2011 to 2014
