Although there are many skillful Braille readers, thousands of other blind people find it difficult to learn that system. They are thereby shut    61    from the world of books and newspapers, having to    62    on friends to read aloud to them.
    A young scientist named Raymond Kurzweil has now designed a computer which is a major    63    in providing aid to the    64   . His machine, Cyclops, has a camera that    65    any page, interprets the print into sounds, and then delivers them orally in a robot-like    66    through a speaker. By pressing the appropriate buttons    67    Cyclops’s keyboard, a blind person can “read” any    68    document in the English language.
    This remarkable invention represents a tremendous    69    forward in the education of the handicapped. At present, Cyclops costs ＄50,000.   70   , Mr. Kurzweil and his associates are preparing a smaller    71    improved version that will sell    72    less than half that price. Within a few years, Kurzweil    73    the price range will be low enough for every school and library to    74    one. Michael Hingson, Director of the National Federation for the Blind, hopes that    75    will be able to buy home    76    of Cyclops for the price of a good television set.
    Mr. Hingson’s organization purchased five machines and is now testing them in Maryland, Colorado, Iowa, California, and New York. Blind people have been    77    in those tests, making lots of    78    suggestions to the engineers who helped to produce Cyclops.
    “This is the first time that blind people have ever done individual studies    79    a product was put on the market,” Hingson said. “Most manufacturers believed that having the blind help the blind was like telling disabled people to teach other disabled people. In that    80   , the manufacturers have been the blind ones.”