TY - GEN
T1 - Design exploration of affordable refreshable Braille display technology for low-income visually impaired users
AU - Walker, Anthony S.
AU - Sangelkar, Shraddha
N1 - Funding Information:
Support for this project was provided by the United States– India Science & Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USISTEF. The authors would like to thank William Aldridge for help with detailed editing. The contributions of Marco Nunez and Alec Hydock for the paper are appreciated as well. Finally, the authors would like to thank Shyam Shah and Surabhi Srivastava from Innovision for timely and insightful feedback on the paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 ASME.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - People with visual disability need assistance in reading and writing by converting text to braille. Braille allows tactile display of the information for the visually impaired. Refreshable braille displays are commonly available in developed countries for a high price with the number of cells the display contains being the most influential factor on that price. Low-income blind individuals from developing countries cannot afford an expensive refreshable braille display, which in turn limits their access to digital information. The purpose to this paper is to explore design options for reducing the cost of refreshable braille displays. The paper begins with a summary of currently available refreshable braille displays on the market and their features. Next, the design requirements are explored for developing a low-cost device for visually impaired users in the developing countries. The paper also explains the state-of-the-art technologies for actuating the braille dots that may reduce the cost of the device. Finally, the recommendations for reducing the cost of these displays are presented.
AB - People with visual disability need assistance in reading and writing by converting text to braille. Braille allows tactile display of the information for the visually impaired. Refreshable braille displays are commonly available in developed countries for a high price with the number of cells the display contains being the most influential factor on that price. Low-income blind individuals from developing countries cannot afford an expensive refreshable braille display, which in turn limits their access to digital information. The purpose to this paper is to explore design options for reducing the cost of refreshable braille displays. The paper begins with a summary of currently available refreshable braille displays on the market and their features. Next, the design requirements are explored for developing a low-cost device for visually impaired users in the developing countries. The paper also explains the state-of-the-art technologies for actuating the braille dots that may reduce the cost of the device. Finally, the recommendations for reducing the cost of these displays are presented.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85034666152&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85034666152&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/DETC201767247
DO - 10.1115/DETC201767247
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85034666152
T3 - Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
BT - 43rd Design Automation Conference
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
T2 - ASME 2017 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2017
Y2 - 6 August 2017 through 9 August 2017
ER -