A High Resolution Tactile Display Based on Variable Stiffness Polymer and Pneumatic Actuation

基于可变刚度聚合物和气动驱动的高分辨率触觉显示器

• 批准号: 9886562
• 负责人: Qibing Pei
• 金额: $ 36.91万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-05-01 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9886562
• 关键词: Access to Information; Aging; Architecture; Automobile Driving; Braille Display; Cells; Cellular Phone; Child; Communication; Consumption; Data; Development; Device or Instrument Development; Devices; Education; Electrodes; Employment; Ensure; Evaluation; Exhibits; Feedback; Focus Groups; Heating; Image; Individual; Learning; Length; Maps; Membrane; Methods; Modernization; Modulus; Names; Pattern; Performance; Persons; Phase; Polymers; Process; Reader; Reading; Resistance; Resolution; Scheme; Shapes; Societies; Speed; Structure; Surface; Surveys; Tablets; Tactile; Target Populations; Techniques; Technology; Temperature; Text; Thick; Time; Transition Temperature; Travel; United States; Visual; Visual impairment; Visually Impaired Persons; Work; base; blind; braille; copolymer; cost; data format; design; experience; improved; innovation; legally blind; literacy; phase change; pressure; prototype; sample fixation; success; tactile display; usability; voltage

Vision impairment limits a person's ability to communicate, to learn, to work, and to travel. In the United States alone, there are 1.3 million legally blind, including 55,000 children. Traditionally, blind children were taught with Braille as the written medium. However, in recent years, literacy rates among the blind have declined to alarmingly low levels, primarily due to the rapid advancement of cheap and accessible audio devices. While audio devices have improved individual access to information, Braille and other tactile medium are important for forming connections between concepts and physical objects. More importantly, Braille literacy directly correlates with success in high education and employment. The majority of the blind people who are employed are Braille readers. Unfortunately, Braille devices have remained bulky and expensive, relying on aging technologies. Refreshable Braille devices currently on the market are limited to 1 or 2 lines of characters (Braille cells), which limits their display capabilities to pure text. There is an urgent need to employ modern technologies to develop low-cost devices that enable communication, simplify education, and ensure the vision impaired are fully integrated into society. The objective of this project is to develop a Braille electronic display panel that can assemble into compact form factors such as smartphone cases. The panel will consist of an array of raised dots that can display Braille text and topographical patterns representing graphics, maps, symbols, and more. The display content will be refreshable akin to images on a smartphone screen. The target Braille panel, to be named PolyPad, will exploit a variable stiffness polymer which we have recently innovated. The polymer exhibits a modulus change from ~100 MPa to ~0.1 MPa in a narrow temperature range of 40-45 oC. The large variable stiffness allows for large- strain deformation in the softened state by relatively low pneumatic pressures, and for high shape fixation rate and supporting force in the rigid state. Our preliminary study has also led to a highly compliant Joule heating electrode that can electrically supply the temperature change for the polymer membrane and consequently alter its stiffness. The driving voltage is on the order of 12 V; off-the-shelf, high-efficiency circuits could be employed. The project will investigate the essential materials, processes, and structures needed to fabricate high- performance PolyPad devices. The proof-of-concept PolyPad devices will be evaluated throughout the project, providing formative user data throughout development and summative evaluation. Qualitative data will be collected through the use of surveys and rating scales, and quantitative data on usability will include speed and accuracy in reading and identifying graphic text. 1

视力障碍限制了一个人的沟通、学习、工作和旅行的能力。在美国 仅在各州，就有130万法定盲人，其中包括5.5万名儿童。传统上，盲童接受的是 以盲文为书写媒介。然而，近年来，盲人识字率下降到 令人震惊的低水平，主要是由于廉价和可获得的音频设备的快速发展。而当 音频设备改善了个人获取信息的能力，盲文和其他触觉媒介对 在概念和物理对象之间形成联系。更重要的是，盲文识字与 在高等教育和就业方面取得成功。大多数有工作的盲人都是盲人 读者。不幸的是，依赖于老化的技术，盲文设备仍然笨重而昂贵。 目前市场上的可刷新盲文设备仅限于1或2行字符(盲文单元)，这 将它们的显示能力限制为纯文本。迫切需要利用现代技术来发展 低成本设备，支持通信、简化教育并确保视力障碍者完全康复 融入社会。 这个项目的目标是开发一种可以组装成紧凑型盲文电子显示面板 外形因素，如智能手机壳。该面板将由可显示盲文的凸起圆点阵列组成 表示图形、地图、符号等的文本和地形图案。显示内容将为 可刷新，类似于智能手机屏幕上的图像。目标盲文面板将被命名为PolyPad，将利用 一种我们最近创新的可变硬度聚合物。聚合物的模数从 在40-45摄氏度的狭窄温度范围内，约100兆帕至约0.1兆帕。大的可变刚度允许大的- 在相对较低的气压下软化状态下的应变变形，以及较高的固形率 刚性状态下的支撑力。我们的初步研究也导致了高度顺应的焦耳加热 可以为聚合物膜提供温度变化并因此改变的电极 它的僵硬。驱动电压约为12V；可以使用现成的、高效率的电路。 该项目将研究制造高密度材料所需的基本材料、工艺和结构。 高性能PolyPad设备。概念验证PolyPad设备将在整个项目中进行评估， 在整个开发和总结性评估过程中提供形成性用户数据。定性数据将是 通过使用调查和评级量表收集的数据，以及关于可用性的量化数据将包括速度和 阅读和识别图形文本的准确性。 1