STTR Phase I: Microfluidic Technology for Full-Page Digital Braille & Tactile Graphics Display

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，通过在一个类似平板电脑的设备中提供一整页可刷新的盲文文本和触觉图形，减轻美国150万盲人获取信息的负担。这项辅助技术将增加盲文的使用，使盲人学生能够用手指阅读数字化的空间内容，包括数学方程、图表和数字，与对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域感兴趣的视力正常的学生建立平等关系。拟议的产品将提高盲文识字率，STEM职业机会，并最终导致美国盲人的就业成功和独立。这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目依赖于微流体技术来创建一个高度可制造的设备，该设备结合了提供气动信号的底层刚性层和包含盲文间隔的膜致动器的上层软层。整页可刷新盲文和触觉图形显示器的成功商业化需要非常紧密的包装、高刷新率以及可优雅地扩展到平板电脑大小的产品的材料/制造解决方案。该解决方案利用了微流体芯片实验室行业的现有能力，并部署了气动执行器以实现可扩展的设计。该开发项目涉及通过表征集成微流控芯片和膜致动器的时间约束来确定对设备刷新率的妥协。技术目标的结果将证明创新的可扩展性，以实现全页可刷新的盲文和触觉图形显示。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to reduce the burden of accessing information for the 1.5 million blind people in the United States by making a full page of refreshable braille text and tactile graphics available in a device resembling a tablet computer. This assistive technology will provide increased access to braille and enable blind students to read digitized spatial content including mathematical equations, graphs, and figures with their fingers, creating parity with their sighted counterparts interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The proposed product will improve braille literacy, opportunities in STEM careers, and ultimately lead to the employment success and independence of blind Americans. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project relies on microfluidic technology to create a highly manufacturable device that combines an underlying rigid layer supplying pneumatic signals and an overlying soft layer containing membrane actuators at braille spacing. The successful commercialization of a full-page refreshable braille and tactile graphic display requires very tight packaging, high refresh rates, and a materials/manufacturing solution that scales gracefully to a tablet-size product. The proposed solution harnesses existing capabilities in the microfluidics lab-on-a-chip industry and deploys pneumatic actuators to achieve a scalable design. The development project involves identifying compromises to device refresh rates by characterizing timing constraints of the integrated microfluidic chips and membrane actuators. The results of the technical objectives will demonstrate the scalability of the innovation for achieving a full-page refreshable braille and tactile graphics display.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.