SBIR Phase II: Microfluidic Technology for Full-Page Digital Braille and Tactile Graphics Display

SBIR 第二阶段：用于全页数字盲文和触觉图形显示的微流体技术

• 批准号: 2153384
• 负责人: Alexander Russomanno
• 金额: $ 98.53万
• 依托单位: NEWHAPTICS CORP.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2153384&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Microfluidic; Technology

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II 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 in digital form and enable blind students to read, with their fingers, digitized spatial content including mathematical equations, graphs, and figures, creating parity with their sighted counterparts interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. In particular, the product with supporting software will remove barriers to collaboration in classroom learning environments and document preparation in the workplace. The proposed product will improve braille literacy, increase opportunities to enter careers in STEM, and ultimately lead to the employment success and independence of blind Americans.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project continues efforts to adopt microfluidic technology in order to create a highly manufacturable full-page braille and tactile graphics display that uses pneumatic signals to actuate pins at braille spacing. The anticipated technical innovations shift certain drive functions from electromechanical hardware to the more cost effective and easily manufactured multilayered microfluidic substrate. Since the ultimate objective for this phase of research is to create an integrated system for delivering interactive braille and tactile graphics, the team will focus on designing the interactive experience by which blind users access, on demand, the textual and non-textual information that they desire. The anticipated outcome of this project is a seamless array of actuated pins in a tablet­ sized device capable of presenting a half­ page of braille characters and tactile graphic images.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.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）II期项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，通过在设备上提供类似于平板电脑的设备可用的完整刷新盲文文本和触觉图形，以减少美国150万盲人访问信息的伯恩。这种辅助技术将以数字形式提供更多地访问盲文，并使盲人学生能够用手指，数字化的空间内容阅读，包括数学方程式，图形和数字，并与对科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域感兴趣的视力同行建立奇偶校验。特别是，具有支持软件的产品将消除课堂学习环境中协作的障碍，并在工作场所记录准备。 The proposed product will improve braille literacy, increase opportunities to enter careers in STEM, and ultimately lead to the employment success and Independence of blind Americans.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project continues efforts to adopt microfluidic technology in order to create a highly manufacturerable full-page braille and tactile graphics display that uses pneumatic signals to activate pins at braille spacing.预期的技术创新将某些驱动器功能从机电硬件转移到更具成本效益且易于制造的多层微流体底物。由于这一研究阶段的最终目标是创建一个集成系统，用于提供交互式盲文和触觉图形，因此团队将专注于设计盲人用户按需访问他们想要的文本和非文本信息的互动体验。该项目的预期结果是能够展示半页盲文字符和触觉图形图像的平板电脑大小的设备中的无缝激活引脚。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估来通过评估来获得的支持。