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Most blind people use speech output. If braille displays were more affordable perhaps more people would use them. But with the cost of 80-cel displays being rou

by eney 16y ago

Most blind people use speech output. If braille displays were more affordable perhaps more people would use them. But with the cost of 80-cel displays being roughly double 40-cell displays, how could make an affordable multiline display?

lukev 16y ago
I think you'd need a different paradigm. Right now each cell (if I understand the design) is a relatively complex mechanical entity. Scaling a display means scaling the number of cells linearly, which gets expensive fast. But if you rethought the problem and built a sort of generic pixel-field display, only with each pixel being a pin, and a consistent way of activating them (perhaps something like e-ink), you could manufacture arbitrarily large screens with sub-linear cost.
- eney 16y ago
  Ah yes! A foldable display with nanotech that could make tactile maps and such with different textures. That's what I want.
  - gvb 16y ago
    Not quite foldable... How about a single "cell" that is on an X-Y mount (or just X for a simpler single line display). Your finger "sees" only one cell at a time anyway. As you used your finger to "skate" over the surface of the board, the "display" computer would read the X-Y position and drive the pins appropriately for that spot. Back to a one-dimensional (X only) readout with something like a scroll wheel on one side to scroll up and down seems pretty easy and useful. Picture a dot matrix printer where your finger is the "paper". The printhead would need a 2D set of pins, not just a vertical line... hmmm, maybe a vertical line of pins would be adequate in conjunction with the left-right sliding motion. Result: size is limited by the X-Y mechanical accuracy (backlash, rigidity) and cost would scale very well compared to size: one cell's worth of pin drivers for any reasonable size readout. [edit] Per Someone http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1842617 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1842617, a X-only (line) readout with two heads, one for each hand (probably on the same platen) would mimic the Braille best. If you had a force sensor to sense the user pushing +/- in the "Y" dimension, you could use that to "scroll" the line without having to take your hands off the readout.
- hugs 16y ago
  This might be what you're looking for: "When glass touch screens feel like sandpaper" : http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/08/tesla.touch.disney/index.html?hpt=Sbin http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/08/tesla.touch.di...
bilban 16y ago
When I looked around St Dunstans in Sussex (provides support for the blind and visually impaired), it was suggested that Braille was on the out, which surprised me.

by eney 16y ago

lukev 16y ago

I think you'd need a different paradigm. Right now each cell (if I understand the design) is a relatively complex mechanical entity. Scaling a display means scaling the number of cells linearly, which gets expensive fast. But if you rethought the problem and built a sort of generic pixel-field display, only with each pixel being a pin, and a consistent way of activating them (perhaps something like e-ink), you could manufacture arbitrarily large screens with sub-linear cost.

eney 16y ago
Ah yes! A foldable display with nanotech that could make tactile maps and such with different textures. That's what I want.
- gvb 16y ago
  Not quite foldable... How about a single "cell" that is on an X-Y mount (or just X for a simpler single line display). Your finger "sees" only one cell at a time anyway. As you used your finger to "skate" over the surface of the board, the "display" computer would read the X-Y position and drive the pins appropriately for that spot. Back to a one-dimensional (X only) readout with something like a scroll wheel on one side to scroll up and down seems pretty easy and useful. Picture a dot matrix printer where your finger is the "paper". The printhead would need a 2D set of pins, not just a vertical line... hmmm, maybe a vertical line of pins would be adequate in conjunction with the left-right sliding motion. Result: size is limited by the X-Y mechanical accuracy (backlash, rigidity) and cost would scale very well compared to size: one cell's worth of pin drivers for any reasonable size readout. [edit] Per Someone http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1842617 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1842617, a X-only (line) readout with two heads, one for each hand (probably on the same platen) would mimic the Braille best. If you had a force sensor to sense the user pushing +/- in the "Y" dimension, you could use that to "scroll" the line without having to take your hands off the readout.
hugs 16y ago
This might be what you're looking for: "When glass touch screens feel like sandpaper" : http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/08/tesla.touch.disney/index.html?hpt=Sbin http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/08/tesla.touch.di...

bilban 16y ago

When I looked around St Dunstans in Sussex (provides support for the blind and visually impaired), it was suggested that Braille was on the out, which surprised me.