4 ms·

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 Thi

by 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

by minthd 12y ago

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