ITRI: An Electrostatic Haptic Display for the Visually Impaired

这是为期三年的持续奖励的第一年资助。近些年来，视障人士获取非文本材料变得越来越重要。触觉或触觉显示器在非文本信息传输方面具有相当大的优势，特别是在图形用户界面中导航以及图形和空间信息(曲线图、条形图等)的传输方面。该项目将评估一种基于静电刺激的新型触觉显示(与更常见的电刺激或振动触觉刺激模式相反)。静电显示器具有克服电皮肤和振动触觉显示器的许多问题的潜力。静电显示器可以很容易地使用微制造技术批量制造，感知是一种质地(可以忽略不计的直流电流入皮肤)，没有移动部件可粘连或磨损。该项目将侧重于评估显示器在实际情况中的使用情况，并将有助于更好地了解静电刺激的感知机制。具体来说，这项工作将集中在两个方面：(1)对显示器进行评估，包括学习效果、年轻与年长、视力受损与非受损、与凸起线条图的比较、图案识别、学术/商业图形和动态范围；(2)在持续评估实验的指导下，开发改进的显示技术。

This is the first year funding of a three-year continuing award. Access to non-textualmaterial for persons with visual impairments has become increasingly important in recent years. Tactile or haptic displays hold considerable advantages in term of non-textual information transfer, particularly for navigating in GUIs and in the transfer of graphic andspatial information (plots, bar graphs, etc.). This project will evaluate a new type of haptic display based on electrostatic stimulation (as opposed to the more common electrocutaneous or vibrotactile modes of stimulation). Electrostatic displays have the potential to overcome many of the problems of electrocutaneous and vibrotactile displays. Electrostatic displays can be easily batch fabricated using micro fabrication techniques, the percept is one of texture (there is negligible direct current flow into the skin) and there are no moving parts to stick or wear. The project will focus on the evaluation of the display for use in practical situations and will also lead to a better understanding of the perceptual mechanisms in electrostatic stimulation. Specifically,the work will focus in two areas: (1) evaluation of the display including learning effects, young vs. old, visually impaired vs. non-impaired, comparison to raised line drawings, pattern recognition, academic/business graphics and dynamic range, (2) development of improved display technology guided by continuous evaluation experiments.