SBIR Phase II: Tactile Graphic Array

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目将进行研究，导致新的低成本和紧凑的触觉图形显示器和盲文显示器的工作原型的发展。 当今占主导地位的技术，即由压电致动器驱动的显示器，具有两个主要缺陷。 它非常昂贵，每个触点大约12至16美元，并且致动器形状（50至70 mm长的簧片）显著增加了可行的显示器的体积，基本上限制了它们用于桌面或便携式设备的单线盲文显示器。 在项目的第一阶段，C.A.Technology对新型形状记忆合金单点致动器的设计进行了广泛的研究，并证明了基于该技术的触觉显示器的可行性。该致动器使用短且非常细的钛镍合金线，这将使每个点的成本降低到约3至4美元，并将大大减少显示体积，从而允许其在手持设备中使用。 第二阶段的工作将包括以下内容：1）新触觉阵列的详细设计、构造和用户测试; 2）开发软件，将这些显示器与各种便携式和手持设备（如CA技术公司自己的便携式打印阅读设备）连接起来; 3）生产工具和设备的初步设计。70年代中期，第一个电子盲文显示器的出现改变了盲人的生活。 今天，许多人通过可刷新的电子盲文显示器可以立即和选择性地触摸文本信息。 然而，这些设备的高成本仍然严重限制了它们的扩散。 通过降低成本、尺寸和重量，这项新技术将提高盲文显示器的市场渗透率，使更多的盲人和半盲者能够使用盲文显示器，并大大改善他们的就业机会。 获取广泛用于例如数学、化学的图形符号和获取普通图形仍然只能通过缓慢、笨重和非常昂贵的图形处理器。 如果一张图片“胜过千言万语”，那么一个紧凑的，低成本的可刷新的图形触觉显示器为盲人学生，盲人工程师，盲人物理学家和盲人的生活提供了一个重要的新机会。此外，这对视力低下的人也很重要。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will conduct research leading to the development of working prototypes of new low cost and compact Tactile Graphic Displays and Braille Displays. The dominant technology today, displays driven by piezo-electric actuators, has two major deficiencies. It is very expensive, about $12 to $16 per tactile dot, and the actuator shape, a 50 to 70 mm long reed, significantly increases the volume of feasible displays, essentially limiting their use to single line Braille displays for desktop or portable devices. During the Phase I of the project, C.A.Technology performed extensive research on the design of a new Shape Memory Alloy single dot actuator and has demonstrated the feasibility of tactile displays based on this technology. This actuator uses a short and very thin Titanium-Nickel alloy wire, which will bring the cost per dot down to about $3 to $4, and will considerably reduce the display volume, allowing its use in hand-held devices. The Phase II effort will include the following: 1) detailed design, construction and user testing of the new tactile arrays; 2) development of software to interface these displays with various portable and hand-held devices, such as C.A.Technology's own Portable Print Reading Device; and 3) preliminary design of manufacturing tools and facilities.In the mid-seventies, the appearance of the first electronic Braille displays changed the lives of blind individuals. Today, many have immediate and selective tactile access to textual information through refreshable electronic Braille displays. However, the high cost of these devices still severely limits their diffusion. By reducing their cost, their size and their weight, this new technology will increase the market penetration of Braille displays, making them accessible to many more blind and deaf-blind individuals and significantly improve their employment opportunities. Access to graphic symbols widely used for example in mathematics, chemistry and access to plain graphics is still only possible through slow, bulky and very costly graphic embossers. If a picture is "worth a thousand words", then a compact, low cost refreshable graphic tactile display proffers a significant new opportunity for the lives of blind students, blind engineers, blind physicists and blind people involved in almost any intellectual activity. In addition, it will also be important to those with low vision.