• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 2007

In an information-oriented society, visually impaired persons also should obtain the information with relative ease. They tend to receive the information of letters by tactile sensation through braille display systems. Several types of braille display systems have been suggested so far, but none of them have been widely used yet. The braille display system should provide multiple lines of braille units to improve the level of understanding. In this paper, we propose a cell type braille unit with $3{\times}2$ dots, each of which consists of a piezoelectric linear motor. A braille cell is small and lightweight enough to be portable, and it can be easily assembled in multiple lines. The preliminary tests using the proposed braille display system show that it can provide the information that can be well perceived by visually impaired persons.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2010

Research and development of Assistive Technology (AT) for blind people is primarily focused on assisting mobility and improving access to information. Some particularly useful devices for aiding access to information and communication are DAISY players used with talking books, screen readers for reading screens, video magnifiers to aid low vision, Braille displays, and Braille PDAs. These essential devices have been successfully commercialized and have assisted many visually impaired people. Assistive technology devices for visually impaired people are called sensory substitution devices, because these devices substitute tactile or auditory functions for visual functions. The tactile interfaces of sensory substitution devices such as Braille displays and Braille PDAs have a bimorph type of piezoelectric actuator that forms a Braille (pin) of the Braille cells by moving up and down. KGS Corporation of Japan has more than 80% share of the worldwide market for these Braille cell actuators. Commercializing it for the first time in the world. This paper reviews the various endeavors in Japan in the research and development of tactile displays, such as Braille displays and Braille PDAs. Furthermore, it discusses sensory substitution devices that use tactile displays, focusing especially on the rotating Braille display we have developed.

• KIEE International Transaction on Electrical Machinery and Energy Conversion Systems
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• v.4B no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2004

Refreshable Braille displays have already been developed in the past, but they remain quite bulky and expensive. Small displays contain only a single or a few Braille cells, with pins pushing into the fingertips. However, they are not as successful as larger displays because the skin is more sensitive to lateral movement than to orthogonal pressure. This, paper presents the design of linear electromagnetic actuators, which allows a considerable reduction in size and cost for such refreshable Braille displays. Different actuator concepts are compared. A new actuator is proposed and optimised by means of finite element simulations, which are verified with measurements on a prototype.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.961-970
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• 2004

Tactile sensation is one of the most important sensory functions along with the auditory sensation for the visually impaired since it replaces the visual one of the persons with sight. In this paper, we present a tactile display device as a dynamic Braille display that is the unique tool f3r exchanging information among them. The tactile cell of the Braille display proposed is based on the dielectric elastomer, which is one of the electroactive polymers. It has advantageous features over the existing ones with respect to intrinsic softness, ease of fabrication, cost effectiveness and miniaturization. We introduce a new idea for actuation as well as additional considerations such as the driving circuit that makes it possible to drive multiple tactile cells in a high speed. Also, we describe the actuating mechanism of the Braille pin in details capable of realizing the enhanced spatial density of the tactile cells. Finally, results of psychophysical experiments are given to evaluate its effectiveness.