Artificial muscles, more technically known as electroactive
polymers, are paving the way for displays that may one day make reading a
computer screen as easy for the visually impaired as it is for the
non-impaired.
Why Make Braille
Displays?
While written or typed Braille has enabled visually impaired
people to read for almost 200 years, it goes unnoticed by many people with fully
functioning vision that all present electronic displays, like those for
computers and cell phones, operate solely based on visual cues. Therefore, it
is almost impossible for the visually impaired to effectively interact with
many of the electronics most modern people take for granted.
The idea behind a Braille display is that one day it will be
possible to create a surface that can actively and instantly create raised
Braille characters, and change from one character to another based on an electrical
input. These displays will then be able to change which Braille letters they
represent as easy as the computer screen you're looking at right now can change
the text characters it represents.
What Role Do
Artificial Muscles Play?
Presently, Braille displays do exist to some extent;
however, they are generally limited to a single line of text and can cost
thousands of dollars. The reason for this is that these displays rely on
individual electrical actuators to raise and lower every dot of every Braille
character as the text changes (each letter is composed of 6 possible dots).
With electroactive polymers, scientists and engineers are
hoping they will be able to create a polymer surface, which when exposed to
electric fields, will selectively expand in certain spots and thus form raised
bumps in the form of Braille letters. In theory, such a display should be
relatively cheap since there are no moving parts, and instead of just one line
of characters, it could possibly display an entire page of up to 25 lines with
40 characters per line.
When Will Braille
Displays Start Showing Up?
Unfortunately, the firsts of these displays are still in
their developmental stages, and currently even electroactive polymers
themselves are a relatively unrefined technology. However, at the current rate
of development, we could begin to at least see finished prototype models
showing up in the next few years.
Resources:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/focus-40-blue-product-page.asp
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090814202711.htm
http://electrochem.cwru.edu/encycl/art-p02-elact-pol.htm
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Braille-Displays-To-Be-Powered-by-Artificial-Muscles-119354.shtml
Image Source: http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=6&TopicID=199
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Re: Artificial Muscles: Making Active Braille Displays a Reality
