On the Formulation and Functioning of a Micro Haptics Actuator Based Unit Braille Display Cell

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-216
Author(s):  
Moumita Ghosh ◽  
Subham Ghosh ◽  
Manish Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Biswarup Neogi
Keyword(s):  
Tactile Display ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Soft Data ◽  
Display Board ◽  
Display Unit ◽  
Working Principle ◽  
Linear Actuators ◽  
Braille Display ◽  
Conventional Computer ◽  
Language Text

: The article focusses on the working principle of devising a display board and introduction to a working model of a single unit of a novel prototype of a computer display board for blind people. Objective: The developed prototype is aimed at converting a conventional computer screen to a braille screen based tactile display board. The arrangement will enable the blind people to accesses soft data as a converted braille language text. In addition, the position of the write-up will also be recognizable by the blind. Methods: The system employs six number of micro linear actuators providing haptics feedback. Results: The ABCD display unit was tested with the blind and was found to be received well by the community. According to the survey, this raised dot mechanism is very effective for blind communication.

Multiple Inputs-Single Accumulated Output Mechanism for Soft Linear Actuators

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyeong Ho Cho ◽  
Ho Moon Kim ◽  
Youngeun Kim ◽  
Sang Yul Yang ◽  
Hyouk Ryeol Choi
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Muscle ◽  
Operating Mode ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
Wearable Robots ◽  
Working Principle ◽  
Linear Actuators ◽  
Soft Actuators ◽  
Muscle Actuators ◽  
Further Development

Soft linear actuators (SLAs) such as shape memory alloy (SMA) wires, pneumatic soft actuators, dielectric elastomer actuator, and twisted and coiled soft actuator (TCA) called artificial muscle actuators in general, have many advantages over the conventional actuators. SLAs can realize innovative robotic technologies like soft robots, wearable robots, and bionic arms in the future, but further development is still needed in real applications because most SLAs do not provide large displacement or force as needed. This paper presents a novel mechanism supplementing SLAs by accumulating the displacement of multiple SLAs. It adopts the principle of differential gears in reverse. Since the input units of the mechanism are extensible, more displacement can be accumulated by increasing the number of the input units as many as needed. The mechanism is basically used to accumulate displacements, but can be used to accumulate forces by changing its operating mode. This paper introduces the design and working principle of the mechanism and validates its operation experimentally. In addition, the mechanism is implemented on a robotic arm and its effectiveness is confirmed.

Design Exploration of Affordable Refreshable Braille Display Technology for Low-Income Visually Impaired Users

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony S. Walker ◽  
Shraddha Sangelkar
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Tactile Display ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
High Price ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Braille Display

People with visual disability need assistance in reading and writing by converting text to braille. Braille allows tactile display of the information for the visually impaired. Refreshable braille displays are commonly available in developed countries for a high price with the number of cells the display contains being the most influential factor on that price. Low-income blind individuals from developing countries cannot afford an expensive refreshable braille display, which in turn limits their access to digital information. The purpose to this paper is to explore design options for reducing the cost of refreshable braille displays. The paper begins with a summary of currently available refreshable braille displays on the market and their features. Next, the design requirements are explored for developing a low-cost device for visually impaired users in the developing countries. The paper also explains the state-of-the-art technologies for actuating the braille dots that may reduce the cost of the device. Finally, the recommendations for reducing the cost of these displays are presented.

scholarly journals An Architecture Improvement of Electronic Braille Quran Based on Raspberry Pi

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11S2) ◽  
pp. 395-399
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
The Other ◽  
Raspberry Pi ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Input And Output ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Battery Consumption ◽  
Braille Display ◽  
Tolerable Level

An electronic braille (eBraille) Quran is a braille display that is use to aid the visually impaired and blind Muslims in their journey of understanding and appreciating the Quran in a much more convenient way. It is an invention of University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) since 2009 for the blind people to recite Quran through the Braille system. However, current architecture of eBraille Quran comprises of too many modular components, numerous microcontrollers and complexly designed. Another vital issue is that its architecture still uses old technologies where the firmware updating or data correction process cannot be done remotely. This makes it hard to maintain, repair, costly and time consuming. This study proposed an enhancement of current architecture with the latest technology of single board computer named Raspberry Pi 3B+. The architecture is first designed according to the existing features of the eBraille Quran. Then, a prototype circuit is developed and fabricated for testing purposes of the proposed architecture. Once the circuit is fabricated, an experiment is conducted to test on how well the new architecture manages the intended functionalities, controlling input and output of braille cells, the performance of start-up time and battery consumption. The result shows that the proposed architecture using Raspberry Pi manages to carry out all the proposed functionalities of eBraille Quran. The start-up time is also within tolerable level with only 1 second slower than the current architecture. Battery consumption on the other hand shows that using Raspberry Pi reduces the battery consumption by 1.2% per hour.

Prototype Development of Image Editing Systems Available for Visually Impaired People and Consideration of Their User Interfaces

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 961-967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noboru Takagi ◽  
◽  
Shingo Morii ◽  
Tatsuo Motoyoshi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
User Interfaces ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Line Drawings ◽  
Prototype Development ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Sufficient Detail ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Braille Display ◽  
Tactile Graphics

For example, when sighted scholars study mathematics and physics etcetera, they need to access visual information, e.g., graphs and pictures. Furthermore, sighted people can express their own ideas and opinions visually. On the other hand, blind people can access visual information if it is expressed tactilely, but find it difficult to express their ideas and opinions visually. We are therefore developing a computer-aided system enabling blind people to draw their own figures on their own. This system consists of a matrix braille display to edit computer line drawings. The matrix braille display enables the blind to feel a tactile graphic during editing. After explaining two input methods for elementary plane shapes, we discuss two methods for scrolling tactile graphics to make the matrix braille display large enough to show tactile graphics in sufficient detail. We then show experimental results for using input and scrolling, and conclude with discussion on the usability of input and scrolling.

A NEW BRAILLE DISPLAY SYSTEM DESIGN USING A POLYMER-BASED SOFT ACTUATOR TACTILE DISPLAY

2008 ◽  
pp. 239-248
Author(s):  
Ja Choon Koo ◽  
Hyouk Ryeol Choi ◽  
Kwangmok Jung ◽  
Jae-do Nam ◽  
Young kwan Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
System Design ◽  
Tactile Display ◽  
Display System ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
Braille Display

BrailleRing: a flexible Braille display

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Treml ◽  
Dominik Busse ◽  
Andreas Dünser ◽  
Mike Busboom ◽  
Wolfgang L. Zagler
Keyword(s):  
Line Length ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Braille Display ◽  
Piezo Electric

AbstractThe “BrailleRing” is a refreshable Braille display that allows blind people to read tactile characters on the inside of a rotating ring. Dots are not displayed by moving pins, but by fixed patterns on rotating cuboids. The concept allows for a flexible line-length as well as for a more robust and easy-to-clean device, because it needs far fewer actuators than piezo-electric Braille displays, and these actuators are mechanically isolated from the Braille cells.

Design of Flexible Hybrid Tactile Display Using Electro-Vibration and Electroactive Polymer Modules

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tae-Heon Yang ◽  
In-Mook Choi ◽  
Sam Yong Woo ◽  
Won-Hyeong Park ◽  
Sang-Youn Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Mechanical Model ◽  
Tactile Display ◽  
Electroactive Polymer ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mechanical Models ◽  
Working Principle ◽  
Micro Vibration ◽  
Tactile Sensations ◽  
Compliant Electrodes

When a user explores over an object, mechanoreceptors in human’s fingertip dominantly detect small-scale shapes and textures on the surface of the object. For generating and conveying virtual tactile sensations to users, we developed a new flexible hybrid tactile display consisting of an electroactive polymer (EAP) module and an electro-vibration module. The EAP module was used to construct an ultra-thin 3×3 pin-array module for mimicking small-scale shapes on the object. Since each cell of the proposed 3×3 EAP module is independently actuated with high vertical stroke, it is enough to create various micro-shapes. The electro-vibration module was attached on the EAP module. The electro-vibration module consists of two plates coated with compliant electrodes. The electro-vibration module creates micro-vibration to imitate virtual texture on the objects. To design the proposed hybrid tactile display, the equations for the mechanical models of the proposed tactile display were derived. The working principle of the modules was verified based on the mechanical model. To control the developed combined tactile display, a high-volt multichannel controller was developed by using a high-volt DC-DC converter and opto-couplers. The proposed hybrid tactile display with its control system generates sufficient performances to create realistic and vivid virtual tactile sensations.

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