Integrated Light Sensitive Gels and Hard Materials for Dynamic 3D Displays for the Visually-Impaired

让视障者在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域中仍然代表性不足的主要障碍之一是视觉内容图像的不可访问性，这迫切需要可动态刷新的触觉显示器来彻底改变将三维（3D）图像带给视障者的手段。本计画旨在研究整合环境响应性凝胶与硬质材料之基本原理。如果成功的话，从这个项目中获得的知识可以应用于开发针对视力受损者的动态触觉显示器。这些显示器可以放置在二维（2D）光学显示设备（例如，手机或计算机）。光学光发射被嵌入的光学器件（硬材料）放大以触发光敏凝胶（软材料）上升（即，膨胀）或下降（即，去膨胀）以改变表面形貌。3D动态触觉显示将为视障人士以及人机界面的一般领域提供一种变革性的工具。这种新颖的人机界面也可以广泛应用于许多其他应用中，例如汽车和消费电子产品，这些都是工业界和工业界共同追求的有前途的方向。为了实现这些目标，将深入研究一些关键的基础知识，包括材料合成，加工技术和多物理场分析。结合实验，分析和计算的方法将被用来解决以下问题：（1）工程的光响应凝胶具有更宽的过渡范围，更大的溶胀比，更快的响应时间;（2）开发可行的工艺技术，集成和包装凝胶和硬材料;和（3）了解非均匀光强度下的光敏凝胶的局部变形。这项工作将显着推进知识的合成和组装的环境响应材料的实验控制，以及耦合的大变形和质量输运的凝胶及其并发变形与硬材料的理论理解。最后，具有单个模块的概念验证3D动态触觉显示器将展示材料合成和处理技术的适用性。

One of the primary barriers of leaving the visually-impaired still underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields is the inaccessibility to visual content images, which imminently demands a dynamically refreshable tactile display to revolutionize the means of bringing three-dimensional (3D) images to the visually-impaired. This project aims to investigate the fundamentals on the integrated environmentally responsive gels and hard materials. If successful, the knowledge obtained from this project can be applied to develop dynamic tactile displays targeting the visually-impaired. These displays can be placed over two-dimensional (2D) optical display devices (e.g., a cell phone or computer). The optical light emission is amplified by the embedded optical devices (hard materials) to trigger the light sensitive gels (soft materials) to rise (i.e., swell) or descend (i.e., deswell) to change the surface topography. The 3D dynamic tactile display will provide a transformative tool for the visually-impaired as well as in the general area of human-machine interfaces. This novel human-machine interface can also be widely utilized in many other applications, such as the automobile and consumer electronics that are becoming a promising direction pursued by both academe and industry.To achieve the goals, some key fundamentals will be thoroughly investigated, including material synthesis, processing technology, and multiphysics analysis. Combined experimental, analytical, and computational approaches will be employed to address following issues: (1) engineering the light responsive gels with broader transition range, larger swelling ratio, and faster response time; (2) developing feasible process technologies to integrate and package gels and hard materials, and (3) understanding the localized deformation of light sensitive gels upon non-uniform light intensity. The work will significantly advance knowledge in the experimental control of the synthesis and assembly of the environmentally responsive materials as well as the theoretical understanding of the coupled large deformation and mass transport in gels and their concurrent deformation with hard materials. Finally, the proof-of-concept 3D dynamic tactile display with a single module will demonstrate the applicability of the material synthesis and processing technologies.