3 ms·

Need help with sourcing components for a prototype

1 points by datashovel 12y ago

minthd 12y ago
read "4.1 Limits of a Single Braille Cell Display ": https://www.nbp.org/downloads/cbi/EAPActuators.pdf https://www.nbp.org/downloads/cbi/EAPActuators.pdf This and the other links might be decent starting materials. http://www.utopiamechanicus.com/article/open-source-hardware-braille-display/ http://www.utopiamechanicus.com/article/open-source-hardware... http://www.instructables.com/id/Brail-language-cell-phone-for-visually-impaired-pe/?ALLSTEPS http://www.instructables.com/id/Brail-language-cell-phone-fo... I wouldn't be surprised if 3d printers could enable cheaper readers(both by the ability to try many ideas, and using them as a low-volume manufacturing tool to start). But i think you also need to check patents in this field.
- datashovel 12y ago
  Thanks for the resources. That will be helpful. It appears those implementations are far larger than I anticipate my prototype would be. In fact the hobbyist solenoids I found were already pretty small (around 1" x 1/2"), but I'm looking for something even smaller (ideally the end prototype would be something a person could attach to their wrist or just hold in one hand. And with today's components being so small I'm thinking (distant future) you could have a camera that would take a photo, then send the photo of text wirelessly to a server where it would perform OCR then send back instructions. Perhaps it has GPS. I did think about navigation, which could be hard to get right. I get the impression there are probably only a few essential operations for something like that. (ie. toggle between apps, toggle between documents, back one word, back one sentence, skip word, skip sentence). Then perhaps a few "reading modes" (ie. forward letter by letter, forward word by word, forward sentence by sentence). "reading operations" could obviously be remapped to have different meanings depending on the context of which application you're using (ie. get GPS from GPS app, get time from watch app, get date from calendar app). Alot of that is obviously pie in the sky thinking. But the only component that I think is going to be tough to find as small as I want (for the prototype) is going to be the solenoids. But then again they're simple enough to create from scratch I may end up trying that.
- datashovel 12y ago
  With regard to patents, one of the resources you provided has this to say: Prior art is covered since the early 1950's
minthd 12y ago
These guys[1] are working quite a few years on an affordable braille reader, they're pretty close to release , cost 330-400GBP. SO maybe the task is much harder than it seems, but on the other hand, on it's way to getting solved. [1]http://bristolbraille.co.uk/ http://bristolbraille.co.uk/
- datashovel 12y ago
  In my mind what I'm thinking of could theoretically cost in the low 10's of US$. At scale my hunch is costs would theoretically go down as low as 1's of US$ per device. Yes, less than $10.
  - minthd 12y ago
    I think the difference between $500 and $40 won't be liked much in most of the u.s. since people get much more value from a full line braille machine. But i could be wrong - but to save yourself a lot of work, maybe it would be easier to ask blind people for their opinion , maybe in (reddit.com/r/blind , or quora) ? An alternative could be talking with blind people in the third world, maybe this single cell solution would be good enough for them ? The other option is to really work on basic mechanisms to make the basic cell far cheaper. For example [1] , which uses electrodes and small electric current as the basic sensations(not sure if good idea). Also , there's a company called senseg doing tactile displays for tablets. Since tablets have quite a large area(and the price of components is highly constrained), and a braille strip could need far less,maybe they could offer a cost competitive solution. And they also have an sdk(and maybe tablets). [1]http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/wordpressmu/RESNA-SDC/2013/06/19/pandabraille-a-refreshable-electro-tactile-braille-display-with-no-moving-parts-vit-university/ http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/wordpressmu/RESNA-SDC/2013/06/19/pan...
    - datashovel 12y ago
      Thanks for the suggestions. I've been thinking about how to approach the blind community with the idea. My feeling right now is I should at least have something to "try out" to give them a sense of what I'm after. As soon as I figure out how to get the "reader" down to a size where I feel good about its usability (doesn't matter too much if wires are sticking out etc.) I just want the actual interface to be an appropriate size. Another thing that is also "pie in the sky" but I think another reason I'm so interested is I think there are alot of applications (some reasonable today, but some that may be pushing the boundaries of what we may think of today). I can imagine (at low enough cost, and by perfecting the mechanics) an entire industry could be born around the idea of "consuming information tactilely". Even for sighted people.

1 points by datashovel 12y ago

read "4.1 Limits of a Single Braille Cell Display ": https://www.nbp.org/downloads/cbi/EAPActuators.pdf https://www.nbp.org/downloads/cbi/EAPActuators.pdf This and the other links might be decent starting materials. http://www.utopiamechanicus.com/article/open-source-hardware-braille-display/ http://www.utopiamechanicus.com/article/open-source-hardware... http://www.instructables.com/id/Brail-language-cell-phone-for-visually-impaired-pe/?ALLSTEPS http://www.instructables.com/id/Brail-language-cell-phone-fo... I wouldn't be surprised if 3d printers could enable cheaper readers(both by the ability to try many ideas, and using them as a low-volume manufacturing tool to start). But i think you also need to check patents in this field.

datashovel 12y ago
Thanks for the resources. That will be helpful. It appears those implementations are far larger than I anticipate my prototype would be. In fact the hobbyist solenoids I found were already pretty small (around 1" x 1/2"), but I'm looking for something even smaller (ideally the end prototype would be something a person could attach to their wrist or just hold in one hand. And with today's components being so small I'm thinking (distant future) you could have a camera that would take a photo, then send the photo of text wirelessly to a server where it would perform OCR then send back instructions. Perhaps it has GPS. I did think about navigation, which could be hard to get right. I get the impression there are probably only a few essential operations for something like that. (ie. toggle between apps, toggle between documents, back one word, back one sentence, skip word, skip sentence). Then perhaps a few "reading modes" (ie. forward letter by letter, forward word by word, forward sentence by sentence). "reading operations" could obviously be remapped to have different meanings depending on the context of which application you're using (ie. get GPS from GPS app, get time from watch app, get date from calendar app). Alot of that is obviously pie in the sky thinking. But the only component that I think is going to be tough to find as small as I want (for the prototype) is going to be the solenoids. But then again they're simple enough to create from scratch I may end up trying that.
datashovel 12y ago
With regard to patents, one of the resources you provided has this to say: Prior art is covered since the early 1950's

minthd 12y ago

These guys[1] are working quite a few years on an affordable braille reader, they're pretty close to release , cost 330-400GBP. SO maybe the task is much harder than it seems, but on the other hand, on it's way to getting solved. [1]http://bristolbraille.co.uk/ http://bristolbraille.co.uk/

datashovel 12y ago
In my mind what I'm thinking of could theoretically cost in the low 10's of US$. At scale my hunch is costs would theoretically go down as low as 1's of US$ per device. Yes, less than $10.
- minthd 12y ago
  I think the difference between $500 and $40 won't be liked much in most of the u.s. since people get much more value from a full line braille machine. But i could be wrong - but to save yourself a lot of work, maybe it would be easier to ask blind people for their opinion , maybe in (reddit.com/r/blind , or quora) ? An alternative could be talking with blind people in the third world, maybe this single cell solution would be good enough for them ? The other option is to really work on basic mechanisms to make the basic cell far cheaper. For example [1] , which uses electrodes and small electric current as the basic sensations(not sure if good idea). Also , there's a company called senseg doing tactile displays for tablets. Since tablets have quite a large area(and the price of components is highly constrained), and a braille strip could need far less,maybe they could offer a cost competitive solution. And they also have an sdk(and maybe tablets). [1]http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/wordpressmu/RESNA-SDC/2013/06/19/pandabraille-a-refreshable-electro-tactile-braille-display-with-no-moving-parts-vit-university/ http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/wordpressmu/RESNA-SDC/2013/06/19/pan...
  - datashovel 12y ago
    Thanks for the suggestions. I've been thinking about how to approach the blind community with the idea. My feeling right now is I should at least have something to "try out" to give them a sense of what I'm after. As soon as I figure out how to get the "reader" down to a size where I feel good about its usability (doesn't matter too much if wires are sticking out etc.) I just want the actual interface to be an appropriate size. Another thing that is also "pie in the sky" but I think another reason I'm so interested is I think there are alot of applications (some reasonable today, but some that may be pushing the boundaries of what we may think of today). I can imagine (at low enough cost, and by perfecting the mechanics) an entire industry could be born around the idea of "consuming information tactilely". Even for sighted people.