STTR Phase I: Bistable Electroactive Polymers for Refreshable Braille Displays

这个小型企业技术转移计划第一阶段项目旨在为盲人开发一种可刷新的盲文显示器。现有的盲文技术需要复杂的机械设计，这些设计对于个人使用来说既笨重又昂贵。一种基于新型智能材料(双稳态电活性聚合物)的新技术将被开发出来，使盲文点阵能够在薄平板上实现。该项目将进一步开发这种聚合物的材料，开发低成本的盲文单元加工和图案化，并设计驱动电路和控制软件。加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究人员将在该项目上进行合作，领导智能材料的进一步开发，以获得高驱动性能和耐用性。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是低成本、轻便、可刷新的盲文显示器的可用性。新的盲文展示将显著提高盲人人口的识字率，特别是儿童的识字率。用户将能够通过短信与他们的老师和同龄人即时交流。较低的制造成本将使全球3.14亿视力障碍患者中的更大一部分人能够接触到这种显示器。底层技术也可以进行调整，为视力障碍者提供公共无障碍解决方案。预计的市场规模将达到数亿美元，并可能创造数百个就业机会。该项目还将使人们更好地了解这种新的智能材料，并为具有巨大商业潜力的功能换能器进行新的工程设计。

This Small Business Technology Transfer Program Phase I project aims to develop a refreshable Braille display for the blind. Existing Braille technologies require complicated mechanical designs that are bulky and too expensive for personal use. A new technology based on a new smart material (bistable electroactive polymer) will be developed to enable a Braille dot array on a thin flat panel. The project will further the material development of this polymer, develop low-cost processing and patterning of Braille cells, and design the driving circuitry and control software. Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles will collaborate on the project, leading further development of the smart material to obtain high actuation performance and durability. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be the availability of low-cost, lightweight refreshable Braille displays. The new Braille displays will significantly increase literacy in the blind population, particularly for children. Users will be able to communicate instantly with their teachers and peers through text messaging. The low fabrication cost will make the displays accessible to a larger portion of the 314 million people worldwide that suffer from vision impairment. The underlying technology can also be adapted to provide solutions for public access for the vision impaired. The projected market is on the order of hundred millions of dollars and could create hundreds of jobs. The project will also lead to better basic understanding of the new smart material and to new engineering designs for functional transducers with large commercial potential.