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Have you ever reached for the wrong bottle of medicine, but saw the label in time to avoid taking it? For the blind, medication errors can be harder to avoid – and potentially dangerous. HAS CES 2026I found a way to avoid these errors that is a little cheaper than the common labeling method. It also uses a voice interface instead of typing.
Blind people have been using label makers to print Braille labels for some time, but these are expensive, costing more than $1,250. Mangoslab’s Nemonic Dot is a new contender in the braille label niche with a slightly cheaper price tag of $995. The printer is seen as a way for family and friends to help their blind loved ones.
Mangoslab is a startup that from Samsung’s internal C-Lab research department to launch its Nemonic sticky note printer years ago. HAS THESE Unveiled this year, the group presented its evolution of this printer in the Nemonic Dot. It’s a plastic box the size of a stack of coasters that connects wirelessly to a smartphone. Using a proprietary app, users speak the content of the label and text-to-speech translates it first into text and then into Braille words. These are printed on a sticky strip which can be attached to whatever is pictured.
At the CES 2026 reveal, Mangolab showed off its Nemonic Dot printer – note the bright green label peeking out from it, and behind it in this photo, pill bottles labeled with orange labels.
At the Unveiled booth, easily confused samples were labeled with Nemonic Dot strips, from salt and pepper shakers to painkillers and probiotics, all in identically sized bottles. With the bands, we could tell them apart.
Conventional electronic braille label manufacturers use direct text entry, either with the Perkins-style braille button layout or with a standard QWERTY keyboard. The Nemonic Dot is a fully voice interface: you say a word out loud, and it is converted to text and then to Braille on the smartphone app.
I watched the Nemonic Dot app translate spoken words into text, although I saw that it had difficulty discerning long, specific words for common medications (acetaminophen, paracetamol). It was difficult to tell whether the hiccups were due to the din of the crowded room or the app’s poor hearing: When it was closed and reopened, it correctly understood and translated the spoken words.
It’s conceivable that an external text-to-speech service could read this back to a blind person to make sure the word they’re printing is accurate, but the Nemonic Dot, as I saw it, seems intended as a device for sighted people to print labels for their blind friends and family. While there’s nothing wrong with that, the device is aimed at a different demographic than conventional braille label makers – at least until more blind-friendly features are introduced to the Nemonic Dot app.
The Nemonic Dot has an expected price of $995, although this could change before the product goes on sale in the second quarter of 2026. Standard duct tape refills cost $5, and owners can also purchase firmer copper tape, although Mangoslab has not yet finalized a price for that.
