SBIR Phase I: Full-Page Electronic Braille Display

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目是基于最先进的电活性PVdF聚合物技术开发一种全页、便携式、低成本、可刷新的盲文显示器。整页盲文显示器是一个非常有用的装置，它将促进盲人识字，并增加视力受损者的教育、就业机会和生活质量。目前的商业显示器是基于一个30岁的PZT盲文电池技术。材料和它们的加工都是昂贵的，使得这种显示器的价格非常高。此外，固有的材料特性将这些显示器限制为仅一行或两行盲文字符。在这个提议中，一种使用PVdF聚合物的新型带状致动器将用于制造盲文单元，该盲文单元将提供大位移、支撑力和快速响应时间。此外，这些微型盲文单元将可扩展到整页显示。将采用高度集成的微电子工艺来实现低成本盲文显示。这项工作的重点将是采取目前的原型点和规模缩小到所需的尺寸，并评估它的坚固性，位移和刷新率。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括一个专门设计的全页盲文显示器，可以显示盲文字符和图形信息，这可以帮助盲人阅读计算机屏幕上带有盲文标签的图标、下拉菜单、形状和曲线。这将大大提高盲人操作计算机和处理复杂任务的能力。由于电活性聚合物盲文电池将以低成本开发，更多的盲人将有机会拥有盲文显示设备。这包括处于早期教育阶段的盲童。这不仅有助于他们了解学习盲文的重要性，也为他们提供了一个非常有效的方法来学习各种盲文代码，如文字代码，数学Nemeth代码，计算机代码等，在数字时代。这将提高盲文识字率，在过去几十年中，盲文识字率在盲人中已成为一个日益严重的问题。盲文识字率与完成高中教育、就业和经济状况等因素直接相关。此外，盲文显示器和辅助技术的市场将增加，有助于就业和经济增长。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is for the development of a full-page, portable, low cost, refreshable Braille display based on the state-of-the-art electroactive PVdF polymer technology. The full-page Braille display is a very useful device which will promote Braille literacy and increase education, job opportunities, and quality of life for the visually impaired. The current commercial displays are based on a 30 year old PZT Braille cell technology. Both the materials and their processing are expensive, making the price of such a display very high. In addition, intrinsic material properties limit these displays to only one or two lines of Braille characters. In this proposal, a novel strap actuator using PVdF polymers will be used to make Braille cells that will provide large displacement, supporting force, and fast response time. In addition, these miniature Braille cells will be scalable to full-page displays. Highly integrated microelectronic processing will be employed to enable low cost Braille displays. The focus of this effort will be to take the current prototype dot and scale it down to the required dimensions and evaluate it in terms of firmness, displacement and refresh rate. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes a specially designed full page Braille display that can demonstrate both Braille characters and graphic information, which can help blind people read icons, drop-down menus, shapes, and curves with Braille labeling on a computer screen. This will greatly enhance the ability of blind people to operate computers and handle complicated tasks. Since the electroactive polymer Braille cell will be developed at a low cost; more blind people will have an opportunity to own a Braille display device. This includes blind children in their early stages of education. This will not only help them to understand the importance of learning Braille, but also provide them with a very effective way to study various Braille codes such as literary code, Math Nemeth code, computer code, etc, in the digital age. This will increase Braille literacy, which has become a growing issue among blind individuals over the past several decades. Braille literacy has been directly linked to factors such as completion of a high school education, employment, and economic situation. Also, the market for Braille displays and assistive technologies will increase, contributing to job and economic growth.