Upload
mani-gill
View
222
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
1/17
TACTILE TECHNOLOGYAccording to the World Health Organization there are
approximately 314 million blind and visually impaired
people worldwide today; 45 million of whom are blind.
The most recent U.S. Census survey, points out that in the
blind community, only one third of those of working age
use computers, and only about 20% surf the Internet.
Today only about 30% of blind people of working age are
employed. With the work environment becoming
progressively more computerized, this percentage is
dropping significantly.
There are various factors negatively impacting the
integration of the blind into todays workforce, but the
main problem is the inadequacy of information received by
the user and the inability of the technology to help the user
easily navigate their way through the various toolbars, drop
down menus, screen areas, programs and applications. In
addition they have no graphic reading abilities, there is
limited user adaptability, and the most common of them,
the Refreshable Braille Displays are very expensive
averaging $5,000 per unit.
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
2/17
Tactile World technology provides the blind population with
easy access to computers when navigating the contents of
the screen, simple access to the internet, the ability to seegraphics, and the possibility to suit the users preferences
when reading from the screen. It is the ease and the
simplicity of use, the amount of information delivered to
the user in a simple and effective way, the ease of being
able to navigate to a desired page, area or dropdown menu
that makes the difference in how the blind use computers.
By helping them to use computers in communication and
for modern employment we can change their lives for the
better.
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
3/17
Tactile DevicesTactile Cell phonesTactile BraceletsTactile watchesTactile mouse
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
4/17
TACTILE CELL PHONES
The Tactile Phone would work like any other phone, except
for the fact that every menu button would be written in
braille. This is an awesome concept. It would give the blind
all the benefits of a cell phone that those of us with sight
take for granted. Text messaging, music player etc.
You may enjoy features like e-mail, multimedia messaging,
voice dialing, phone books, word processors, multi-color
displays, and cameras on your hi-tech cellphone, but the
special users, especially visually impaired, have to do with
http://nvanstolkdesign.com/images/tactile_02.jpg8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
5/17
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
6/17
TouchSense tactile feedback: Restores the mechanical feel that users like about
mechanical controls.
Supports dialing by feel and can provide unique tactility
to help locate the 5 key
Projects quality and responsiveness
May improve device lifetime by helping to eliminate
repeated and forceful taps
How it works ?In response to presses on a touchscreen, TouchSense
software controls an actuator in producing a wide variety ofvibrations or effects.
TouchSense system components include:
TouchSense player software running on a microcontroller
Tactile effects library for common touchscreen actions
Off-the-shelf eccentric rotating mass (ERM) actuator
When the user touches the screen, a position signal is sent
to the host application. The host application interprets this
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
7/17
signal and commands TouchSense player to control the
actuator in playing a specified tactile effect. The actuators
vibrations transfer to the touchscreen, which gives the user
the perception of pressing a button or sliding a scrollbar.
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
8/17
TACTILE BRACELETSIt is an alerting device for the hearing impaired designed
by an Edinburgh-based industrial designer named May
Wilson, who has over two years experience in consumer
electronics and medical device design. As we know, for
hearing-impaired people, though telephone rings, it is hard
for them to be aware of that if they dont notice the light
flashing on the telephone. Hence, some solutions are
needed to assist those hearing-impaired person as well as
the elder who cannot hear well.May Wilson, a designerbased in Edinburgh, created a device that will help deaf
people interact with their surroundings more easily. The
device, called Aria, is an alert system that a hearing-impaired person wears on their wrist. It relays various alert
sounds to the wearer with tactile sensations on the skin,
along with an identifying light.
Thats why Aira, this tactile bracelet device was born. It is
designed like a delicate bracelet, which is actually
an alerting system that could relay various alert sounds to
the wearer with tactile sensations on the skin, along with an
identifying light. This device is able to identify six different
sounds in and around the home: telephone, doorbell,
http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_details.asp?individual_id=297200&specialty=4&sort_by=1&c=1&http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_details.asp?individual_id=297200&specialty=4&sort_by=1&c=1&http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_file.asp?individual_id=297200&portfolio_id=3118951&specialty=4&sort_by=1&c=1&http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_file.asp?individual_id=297200&portfolio_id=3118951&specialty=4&sort_by=1&c=1&http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_details.asp?individual_id=297200&specialty=4&sort_by=1&c=1&8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
9/17
smoke alarm,babymonitor,alarm clock, and emergency
vehicle sirens. When the device senses one of these sounds,
it activates little rubber feelers that tickle the wearers
wrist. This alerts the wearer to look at the Aria to discover
which event is taking place.
http://newinventions.patsnap.com/kids-inventions/http://newinventions.patsnap.com/kids-inventions/http://newinventions.patsnap.com/kids-inventions/http://newinventions.patsnap.com/tag/alarm-clock/http://newinventions.patsnap.com/tag/alarm-clock/http://newinventions.patsnap.com/tag/alarm-clock/http://newinventions.patsnap.com/kids-inventions/8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
10/17
Working:
The Aria is able to identify six different sounds in
and around the home: telephone, doorbell, smoke
alarm, baby monitor, alarm clock, and emergency
vehicle sirens. When the device senses one of these
sounds, it activates little rubber feelers that tickle
the wearers wrist. This alerts the wearer to look at
the Aria to discover which event is taking place. One
of the six distinct shapes will be lit to direct the
wearer to the appropriate item.
Its easy to see how the Aria could be a useful
addition to a hearing-impaired persons life. Thereare currently other alerting devices available, but (to
our knowledge) none that feature several different
alerts or that can be worn like a fashion accessory.
The device is not only useful and potentially life-
saving; its also pretty darned attractive.
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
11/17
TACTILE WATCHLucky are we to have been blessed with eyes that could
spot out things. We can read things hassle-free, admire at
natures beauty, but the blind? Can they sense things or at
least know the current time? Why not! Specially designed
for the visually disabled is the new Tactile Watch. So, whatsso intriguing about this watch? The very feeling of raised
minute and hour hands with respect to the dots, positioned
around the watch face helps the visually disabled to knowthe current time. Rather than employing a dial, the watch
hands are stimulated directly to create a tactile experience.
The watchband is made out of flexible rubber material,
which makes it even easier for the blind people to take on
and off.
This designer got the idea to design watch for visuallyimpaired people when he was researching for his senior
thesis project in college. You might think that the blind
people search new technologies to restore their sight or a
way to navigate the city. In fact, they just want simple
things to improve their quality of life. The thesis focused
primarily on Money recognition for U.S bills and at the same
time this industrial designer wanted to expand his research
to design a simple product that would appeal a larger user
base outside of the visually disabled. He has come up with
this Tactile Watch design.
http://www.en-derin.com/goto/http:/www.tuvie.com/technology-for-the-blind-and-the-visually-impaired-sentio-digital-tactile-watch/http://www.en-derin.com/goto/http:/www.tuvie.com/technology-for-the-blind-and-the-visually-impaired-sentio-digital-tactile-watch/http://www.en-derin.com/http://www.en-derin.com/http://www.en-derin.com/goto/http:/www.tuvie.com/technology-for-the-blind-and-the-visually-impaired-sentio-digital-tactile-watch/http://www.en-derin.com/goto/http:/www.tuvie.com/technology-for-the-blind-and-the-visually-impaired-sentio-digital-tactile-watch/8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
12/17
The designers primary motto is to design a more user-
friendly watch for the blind so that they might have a
unique experience as others. While the watch is still at the
concept stage, the designer is researching out to
incorporate many things for a brilliant outcome.
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
13/17
WorkingInstead of incorporating complex technologies for raising
braille numbers and programming audio notifications, this
clever design quite elegantly turns the template of the
conventional analogue timepiece into a three-dimensional
surface.
The dial comprises two rings, an inner and an outer which
correspond to the minute and the hour. Instead of includinghands, the bands gently ascend on circular slopes so that
each features an abrupt ridge between the most elevated
and lowest part of the material. The user can effortlessly
feel the location of the brink, and easily decipher the time
of day with the Tactile Watch.
To read time on the watch following steps are as follows:
1.Pop out the centre button.2.Press back button and tha minute hand will pop up.3.Rotate the minute hand and use the dots for reference.4.The watch is adjusted.
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
14/17
TACTILE MOUSEA tactile mouse helps blind people to use the internet.Computers have become such an integral part of life, in the
rich world at least, that even social networking is done
online. The blind, however, are often excluded from such
interactions. Now a system has been developed to make it
easier for blind people to navigate the internet, use word-
processing software and even trace the shapes of graphsand charts. Its inventors hope it will enable more blind
people to work in offices.
The system developed by staff at Tactile World, an Israeli
company, uses a device that looks similar to a conventional
computer mouse. On its top, however, it has two pads, each
with 16 pins arranged in a four-by-four array. Software
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
15/17
supplied with the mouse translates text displayed on the
screen into Braille.
Working:
In traditional Braille, numbers and letters are represented
by raised bumps in the paper of the page being read. The
pins on the mouse take the role of these bumps. As the
cursor controlled by the mouse is moved across the screen,
the pins rise and fall to represent the text across which they
are moving. One pad represents the character under the
cursor, the other gives the reader information about what is
coming next, such as whether it is a letter or the end of the
word. This advance information makes interpretation
easier. As the user reads the text, the system also
announces the presence of links to other websites. And the
user can opt, if he wishes, to have the computer read the
whole text out loud.
The mouses software has an anchor feature, to hold onto
the line of text that is being read. Alternatively, a user can
click a button on the mouse and the text will scroll along
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
16/17
and run under his fingers without him having to move the
device.
When he encounters a graph, map or other such figure, thepins rise when the mouse is on a line. The number of pins
raised reflects the thickness of the line. If he strays from
the line, the pins fall. He is thus able to trace, say, the curve
of a graph or the border of a country. More complex
diagrams can also be interpreted. Dark areas of maps, for
example, can be represented by raising all the pins, while
light areas are places where all the pins are dropped.
The combinatory effect of the active movement of the hand
and the tactile feedback to the fingers makes users feel as
if they were exploring tangible drawings.
By adequately adjusting the ratio of hand movement to
pins, subjects in the experiment were able to distinguish
geometric figures; triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons,
and circles.
8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report
17/17
These four pictures show the correspondance between a
line on the CRT display and a row of raised dots.
Upper Left: A horizontal line and the cursor on the CRT.Upper Right: A horizontal row of raised dots on the TactileMouse.
Lower Left: An oblique line and the cursor on the CRT.Lower Right: An oblique row of raised dots on the TactileMouse.