Design, Development, and Evaluation of an Interactive Tactile Graphics Printer for the Blind and VisuallyImpaired

 描述(由申请人提供)：该项目的最终目标是为盲人和低视力(B/LV)人群销售一种机电和软件系统，使盲文注释触觉图形的交互创建、交流和打印成为可能。在学校、家里和工作场所，几乎每个人都需要能够绘制各种各样的手绘草图、图表、驾驶方向图、平面图、设计图、图表、图表、流程图、手写、数学和艺术。B/LV社区目前可以购买凸起线条绘画工具包，类似于铅笔和纸，它确实允许通过在塑料板上用触笔划线来一次性制作触觉绘画。在E.A.S.Y.LLC(Engineering To Assistate And Support You)及其完整的产品线出现之前，用户无法实现的是擦除和更正；在单页上重复绘制和擦除；在“读写”介质上复制和触觉复制；以及数字记录、传输和共享凸起线条。缺乏这些能力严重限制了教育的工具和主题，并极大地缩小了就业机会。这个第二阶段的STTR项目将开发完整的触觉图形打印机2.0，这是产品线的一个基本元素，目前只作为该团队第一阶段项目产生的阿尔法原型存在。完整的产品线是E.A.S.Y.LLC的首个创举。它通过一个系统解决上述未满足的需求，该系统由(1)完整的画板(现已售出约100个，数字化版本原型)；(2)完整的橡皮擦(现已售出约65个)；以及(3)和完整的打印机组成，在第一阶段项目中进行了原型和评估。拟议的STTR第二阶段项目的目标是设计、评估和准备印刷机的最后商业版本2.0。该项目的工程成果将是通过在教育、培训、就业、宣传、研究以及为盲人和视障人士制作无障碍材料的九个地点进行广泛的实地评估所确定的方式来优化当前原型的性能所需的大量新特征和能力。佛蒙特大学的一份分包合同将为访问提供工程研究人员迈克尔·罗森博士的大量努力。罗森是用户互动产品开发、设计方法和残疾人产品开发方面的专家。UVM的合同将进一步支持和工程研究生研究助理。E.A.S.Y.LLC的商业计划呼吁与全国盲人联合会、珀金斯产品公司和其他合作伙伴公司合作开展营销工作；将产品线扩展到用于教育的触觉图形材料，并开发新的接入技术。该计划的资金来自销售收入、新投资、贷款以及与其他供应商和分销商的合作伙伴关系。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ultimate goal of this project is to market an electromechanical and software system for Blind and Low Vision (B/LV) individuals that will enable interactive creation, communication and printing of Braille- annotated tactile graphics. In school, at home and in the workplace, virtually everyone needs to be able to produce a wide variety of freehand sketches, diagrams, driving directions, floor plans, designs, charts, graphs, flowcharts, hand-written, mathematics, and art. The B/LV community presently can purchase raised-line drawing kits, akin to pencil and paper, which do allow one-time production of tactile drawings by scribing with a stylus on plastic sheets. What users could not accomplish, until the advent of E.A.S.Y. LLC (Engineering to Assist and Support You) and its inTACT product line, is erasing and correction; repeated drawing and erasing on single sheets; copying and tactile reproduction on a "read-write" medium; and digital recording, transmission, and sharing of raised-line drawings. Absence of these capabilities has severe limits on the tools and topics of education, and dramatically narrowed employment opportunities. This Phase II STTR project will develop to the point of commercial readiness the inTACT tactile graphic Printer 2.0, an essential element of the product line which presently exists only as the alpha prototype generated by this team's Phase I project. The inTACT product line is the inaugural initiative of E.A.S.Y. LLC. It addresses the unmet needs outlined above through a system composed of (1) the inTACT Sketchpad (~100 units now sold, digitizing version prototyped); (2) the inTACT Eraser (~65 units now sold); and, (3) and the inTACT Printer, prototyped and evaluated in the Phase I project. The goal of the proposed STTR Phase II project is to engineer, evaluate and prepare a final commercial version 2.0 of the Printer. The engineering outcome of the project will be substantial new features and capacities necessary for optimizing the performance of the current prototype in ways defined through extensive field evaluation at nine sites of education, training, employment, advocacy, research, and accessible material production for the blind and visually impaired. A subcontract to the University of Vermont will provide access substantial effort from Dr. Michael Rosen, a member of the Engineering research faculty. Rosen is an expert in user interactive product development, design methodology, and development of products for the disabled. The UVM contract will further support and Engineering graduate research assistant. The E.A.S.Y. LLC business plan calls for marketing efforts in conjunction with the National Federation of the Blind, Perkins Products and other partner companies; expansion of the product line into tactile graphics materials for education, and development of new access technology. Funding for this plan is being sought from a combination of sales revenue, new investment, loans and partnerships with other vendors and distributors.