A passive and scalable magnetic mechanism for braille cursor, an innovative refreshable braille display

Abstract

In this work, we present the design and experimental analysis of a novel mechanism for a refreshable braille display (RBD). It implements a single actuated slider for refreshing braille cells composed of simple and passive ferromagnetic pins. The approach potentially decouples the cost of the final device from the number of braille cells and pins. In this work, we present the rationale of the actuating method and a design solution implemented in a working prototype of the mechanism. Experimental characterization supported by FEM analysis provided a clearer view of the interacting forces and dynamics of the tactile pins refreshing cycle, and allowed to improve calibration and performance with respect to previous preliminary results. Such knowledge can be transferred to full-size refreshable braille display prototypes. A final cost and scalability analysis, and comparison with conventional RBDs devices highlights limits and potentials of the proposed method, in particular for implementation of large RBDs and tactile matrices.