As Ted has said, this is a great summary, Terri.
Having signed an NDA, I have to be careful what I say here, so
apologies if I sound vague, but I do speak from knowledge of a current
project.
This has reached working prototype stage. The original partners have
backed out for current economic reasons. So now alternative finance is
required.
To cut a long story short, the more normal sources of finance simply
do not understand this industry. Not only do they regard it as
"small", but the term "charity" keeps coming up in a negative sense.
The financial backing required is less than half of the startup
capital required, the rest comes from personal funds.
Even those who are prepared to look at the project, some then want to
have their own "consultants" look into things further. And these guys
also have no understanding of the industry. Comments like, "Why do
you want to make this in this country? China is cheaper". This may
be true, but you then loose a great deal of developmental control, not
to mention delivery times, etc.. If unexpected technical problems
arise, you need to be on the spot and deal with them quickly.
On the other hand, when you do meet up with those who "allegedly" know
the industry, but who then want to add their own stamp to the project,
and add all manner of extras which we all know are a waste of time,
money and resource. Ineed I have seem quite a few companies go to the
wall having been more or less forced to add features, or be refused
funding at the 11th hour.
George.
-----Original Message-----
From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Terri Hedgpeth
Sent: 06 September 2009 08:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] new Braille displays in the works!
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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