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

STTR 第一阶段：全页数字盲文微流控技术

• 批准号: 1913671
• 负责人: Alexander Russomanno
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: NEWHAPTICS CORP.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-06-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1913671&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Microfluidic; Technology; Full

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.

该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，通过在类似于平板电脑的设备中提供一整页可用的刷新盲文文本和触觉图形来减轻美国150万盲人访问信息的负担。这种辅助技术将提供更多的对盲文的访问权限，并使盲人学生能够阅读数字化的空间内容，包括数学方程式，图形和手指的数字，与对科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域感兴趣的视力对应物创造了平等。拟议的产品将提高盲文素养，在STEM职业中的机会，并最终导致盲人美国人的就业成功和独立性。这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）I阶段项目依赖于微流体技术来创建一种高度制造的设备，该设备结合了一个底层刚性层，可提供气动信号和在盲文间距上包含膜致动器的上覆的软层。全页可刷新盲文和触觉图形显示的成功商业化需要非常紧密的包装，高刷新率以及优雅地缩放到平板电脑尺寸产品的材料/制造解决方案。提出的解决方案利用了微流体实验室的现有功能，并部署了气动执行器以实现可扩展设计。该开发项目涉及通过表征集成微流体芯片和膜执行器的定时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，以实现全页刷新盲文和触觉图形显示。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来进行评估。