tactile technology report

8/2/2019 Tactile Technology Report

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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.


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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.


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Tactile DevicesTactile Cell phonesTactile BraceletsTactile watchesTactile mouse


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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.jpg


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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


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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.


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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,
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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.
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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.


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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.
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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.


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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.


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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


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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


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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.


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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.

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