Hi to all.
Terri has done a great job of mentioning some of the financial barriers. Let me add a few more, both financial and otherwise.
1) Because nearly 70% of the blind are unemployed (never mind the underemployed numbers), they won't have the financial resources to pay for a full-page braille display once it arrives. This means that any company selling the product will be primarily selling it to state and private rehabilitation agencies, groups that are now cash-strapped and will continue to remain so for the foreseeable future..
2) While a full-page braille display may be workable for desktop computers, it probably isn't going to be so workable for the I-phone portables that people will be carrying in their pockets. The problem here is the size of the braille cell. Unlike print, braille cells are always the same size--anything larger or smaller, and the blind person won't be able to read it.
3) One more point about braille versus print should be mentioned, and this comes from a very fast braille reader. Your eyes can take in more at one time than your fingers--no matter how fast a braille reader you are, your fingers still do not see what's ahead of them until you get there. With your eyes, you can instantaneously scan a page and find what you want. With your fingers, you can scan a page a word at a time, but it will take a while longer to find what you are looking for, simply because you cannot read everything at once.
Like Terri, I hope this gives those reading some of the issues involved in creating and using a full-page braille display.
Ted
---- Terri Hedgpeth <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Oh my friends, it is much more complicated than just what you mention here. I know because I was a Research faculty in Arizona State University's department of computer Science for four years and loved every minute of it.
> The first matter is that there is a very big difference in being able to build a working prototype in a lab that will get the consumer excited, to the development of a commercially viable product. With software alone, more often then not, the researchers get a prototype to the 95% complete and can't go further because they have reached a barrier that they can't solve. Now say there is a commercial developer that comes in and takes on this product. Typically they have to nearly scrap the software and start over.
> Will let's take a piece of hardware, a new cool device that is born in a research lab. Let's also just pretend that the researchers have a nearly finished product that has a low failure rate of say 5%, which is not typical by any stretch. Now one thing that is extremely important to understand is that funding sources such as NSF, DARPA, NIH, etc, DO NOT fund research labs to develop ideas into working products ready for market. That is viewed in a negative light, because researchers are supposed to be nonbiased and not working for profit, which would compromise their objectivity as researchers.
>
> Any ways, let's get back to our example. This is what has to happen:
> --First, a working prototype that has a real potential for being mass produced
> --researchers finding a company that is interested in taking on the new product
> --A company that has a long range research and development plan,
> --And one where the new product fits into that plan.
> This company must have:
> a) Capital to research and develop a final casting or mold of the product that will appeal to consumers (including consumer testing and research)
> b) capital to tool up for mass production
> c) hardware/software developer(s) to refine the product into a reliable low maintenance product
> d) Resources to write the user manual for the customer, and the maintenance manual for the support team
> e) capital for packaging, parts, marketing, and customer support staff
> f) The expertise and knowledge of the field/market they are targeting
>
> Researchers and affiliated institutions (such as a university) must come to an agreement with the company on the royalty that the company will have to pay the researchers/institution. This can be a real sticking point. There may be a researcher that refuses to take anything less than 30-40% of the net profits. That is completely unreasonable, but not as uncommon as you might think.
>
> This is only a very rudimentary outline of what has to be in place in order for that new product to make it to market. There are many points I have not covered.
> There are many lab prototypes over the years that have been exciting, but they just don't have the potential for mass production, being condensed into a reasonable size without external batteries, power supplies, being reliable for the consumer, having a look and feel that consumers "just gotta have."
> For example, what market is there for a full page Braille display that requires an air compressor to run it. Or how about one that is four inches thick and is 24 inches by 24 inches in size. Or one that overheats and needs four plus fans to keep it cool, making it quite noisy.
> Aside from all these issues, probably one of the biggest short falls is that A T companies don't produce enough capital for heavy duty research and development.
>
> There are so many things that occur in the background that we typically don't have any knowledge of, making it difficult to really understand the issues or the whys behind the scenes. I hope my inside knowledge I have shared with you here is interesting and helps shed some light on the matter for some of you.
>
> Warmest regards,
> Terri
>
> Terri Hedgpeth Ed.D.
> Director, Disability Resource Center
> PO Box 873202
> Arizona State University
> Tempe, AZ 85287-3202
> Assistant: (480) 965-3366
> Direct: (480) 727-8133
> Fax: (480) 965-0441
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of BLIND_MAN_JACK
> Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 10:30 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] new Braille displays in the works!
>
> Ok. I might get my backside charred for what I'm about to say here but
> i'ma say it anyway. There have been a number of valid and very workable
> ideas for redesigning braille displays. no ne of the ideas have flown
> for
> the simple fact that no one can raise any research and development
> money. There was the nest display. A fellow worked for Nasa designed. It
> used a wheel and only one actuator. Didn't go anywhere. There was the
> mims display. It used used air to form the braille symbols. once again
> it went no where. There has been talk of a full page display for years
> now. Well I haven't seen one and will believe it when I do! Also the
> powers that be WILL NOT HELP with any of these projects as far as they
> are concerned it's not broken so why fix it?? Who cares if we pay 8 9
> grand for a braille display. Then are quite pleased with the status quo
> and will not do anything to change that.
> OK do your worst.
> Grin
>
>
>
> On Sat, 5 Sep 2009, David Poehlman wrote:
>
> > Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 07:38:31 -0400
> > From: David Poehlman <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] new braille displays in the works!
> >
> >
> >
> > we'll see.
> >
> > On Sep 4, 2009, at 11:29 PM, Harry Brown wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hi all,
> > Here's a hugely important article from the accessible devices, what's new in
> > the past month page.
> > enjoy, and we need to be involved. I don't know about you all, but a full
> > page braille display is and would be a tremendous thing!
> > Harry
> > Braille Displays Get New Life With Artificial Muscles
> >
> > Braille Displays Get New Life With Artificial Muscles
> > Braille Displays Get New Life With Artificial Muscles
> >
> > Research with tiny artificial muscles may yield a full-page active Braille
> > system that can refresh automatically and come to life right beneath your
> > fingertips.
> >
> > Yosi-Bar Cohen, a senior researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
> > Pasadena, Calif, was inspired during a business trip to Washington, D.C.,
> > where
> > a convention for people with visual impairments was taking place.
> >
> > Bar-Cohen came up with an idea to create a "living Braille," a digital,
> > refreshable Braille device using electroactive polymers, also known as
> > artificial
> > muscles. He wrote up a technology report and included information in a
> > related book that he published. His writings inspired other scientists and
> > engineers
> > to create active displays using this technology, and prototypes are now under
> > development around the world.
> >
> > "I hope that sometime in the future we will have Braille on an iPhone. It
> > will be portable and able to project a picture of a neighborhood popping up
> > in
> > front of you in the form of raised dots," said Bar-Cohen. "A digital Braille
> > operated by artificial muscles could provide for rapid information exchange,
> > such as e-mail, text messaging and access to the web and other electronic
> > databases or archives."
> >
> > According to the World Health Organization, about 314 million people are
> > visually impaired worldwide; 45 million of them are blind.
> >
> > Recently, Bar-Cohen was contacted by the Center for Braille Innovation of the
> > Boston-based National Braille Press to reach out to the Electroactive Polymer
> > community and take advantage of his role in this field. The National Braille
> > Press is a non-profit Braille printing and publishing house that promotes
> > the literacy of blind children through Braille.
> >
> > Current Braille Display Technologies
> >
> > The challenge for creating an active Braille display is in packing many small
> > dots into a tiny volume.
> >
> > Unlike hardcopy Braille, a refreshable display requires the raising and
> > lowering of a large number of densely packed dots that allow a person to
> > quickly
> > read them. Currently, commercial active Braille devices are limited to a
> > single line of characters. A full page of Braille typically has 25 lines of
> > up
> > to 40 characters per line. Characters are represented by six or eight dots
> > per cell, arranged in two columns. To produce a page of refreshable Braille
> > using electroactive polymers requires individually activating and controlling
> > thousands of raiseable dots.
> >
> > Developing New Braille Technologies
> >
> > Some of the leading-edge work in Braille technology was developed at SRI in
> > Menlo Park, Calif. Richard Heydt, a senior research engineer there who was
> > involved
> > in developing a prototype says, "The electroactive polymer technology seems
> > to be a natural fit for Braille and tactile display applications."
> >
> > The Braille display developed at SRI is based on activating a type of polymer
> > consisting of a thin sheet of acrylic that deforms in response to voltage
> > applied across the film. The individual Braille dots are defined by a pattern
> > on this film, and each dot is independently activated to produce the dot
> > combinations for Braille letters and numbers.
> >
> > In currently available active refreshable Braille displays, each dot is a pin
> > driven by a small motor or electromagnetic coil. In contrast, in the SRI
> > display
> > the actuators are defined regions on a single sheet of film. Thus, while each
> > dot is raised or lowered by its own applied voltage, there are no motors,
> > bulky actuators, or similar components. Since the system has far fewer
> > discrete components for a Braille dot array, it would be potentially much
> > lower
> > in cost.
> >
> > "The contributions of the developers of electroactive materials to making a
> > low-cost, active Braille display would significantly improve the life of many
> > people with visual impairments, while advancing the field to benefit other
> > applications" said Bar-Cohen.
> >
> > Looking for the 'Holy Braille'
> >
> > The Boston-based National Braille Press has recently established a Center for
> > Braille Innovation. They're looking for the "Holy Braille," a full-page
> > electronic
> > Braille display, at a low cost.
> >
> > "We feel that the exciting field of electroactive polymer technology has
> > matured to the point where it can provide real solutions for Braille
> > displays.
> > We welcome and encourage anyone who wants to take part in Braille
> > innovation," said Noel H. Runyan, National Braille Press, Center for Braille
> > Innovation
> >
> > In the spring of 2010, Bar-Cohen is including a special session on tactile
> > displays at an SPIE conference. SPIE is the international society for optics
> > and photonics. Tactile displays will be presented and possibly demonstrated
> > at the conference. He hopes these baby steps may someday lead to a full-page
> > Braille system that will allow people to feel and "see" the universe beneath
> > their fingers.
> >
> > JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in
> > Pasadena.
> >
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