A Dynamic Tactile Interface for Visually Impaired and Blind People

0651747 Kretzschmar该项目提出使用电可寻址和可变形的聚合物膜，以开发动态触觉界面，使视力受损和盲人能够以触觉形式访问视觉信息（可在互联网、计算机和数码相机上获得）。动态界面由三层组成。底层是触摸屏，其连接到计算机，用于关于在屏幕上触摸的位置的音频反馈。隔离的电极嵌入在中间层中以寻址顶层中的聚合物膜的区段。顶层由覆盖有薄金膜的电活性聚合物膜组成，当向中间层中的相应电极施加电压时，金膜的片段可以延伸出表面。 该项目将从根本上推进人机交互的工程知识。动态触觉界面的发展也将使人们能够更深入地了解触觉，它与视觉的关系，以及感觉替代。这种触觉聚合物技术很可能在依赖于触觉感知的许多其他领域中找到应用，例如，用于虚拟现实、机器人和医疗应用的传感材料。聚合物技术具有廉价和广泛适用于本科工程学生设计项目的潜力，这可能会导致为身体残疾人士定制其他设计设备。

0651747KretzschmarThe project proposes the use of an electrically addressable and deformable polymeric film in order to develop a dynamic tactile interface that will enable visually impaired and blind people to access visual information (available on the Internet, computers, and digital cameras) in tactile form. The dynamic interface consists of three layers. The bottom layer is a touch screen that is connected to a computer for audio feedback with regard to the position touched on the screen. Isolated electrodes are embedded in the middle layer to address segments of the polymer film in the top layer. The top layer consists of the electroactive polymer film covered with a thin gold film, segments of which can extend out of the surface as a voltage is applied to the corresponding electrode in the middle layer. The project will fundamentally advance the engineering knowledge of human-computer interactions. The development of the dynamic tactile interface will also make it possible to gain deeper understanding of the touch sense, its relation to vision, and sense substitution. This tactile polymer technology is likely to find application in many other areas relying on tactile perception, e.g., sensory materials used in virtual reality, robotics and medical applications. The polymer technology has the potential of being inexpensive and widely applicable for undergraduate engineering student design projects, which could lead to other custom-designed devices for people with physical disabilities.