Abstract
Background/Objectives: The aim of this study was to implement the rotating cubes for designing the Braillerefreshable display. The rotating cube Braille display has many benefits i.e., compact size, low cost etc. Methods/Statistical analysis: refreshable Braille display is an electro mechanical device which forms Braille charactersby raising pins through holes on flat surface. The raising of such pins is accomplished by complex and costly systems like solenoids or piezo-electric crystals or EAP (Electro Active Polimer). We developed the prototype of e-book reader, which is a low cost electro mechanical system aimed at assisting visually impaired to access the e-books. Findings: Many design concepts were proposed earlier and prototypes were built, and were tested successfully in thepast by using three simple rotating cubes. The main parameters like dot spacing, overall dimension, touching force and operating voltage obtained are discussed. Dot spacing 2.5 [mm] with reference to International standard has been maintained. Regarding overall dimension, the display unit is designed to have dimension of 120mm width to 150mm height adhering to NLS standard of Braille dot spacing, and the tactile surface will feature 13 lines with 14 characters per line. The touching force of 0.32N and operating voltage below 25 V was obtained and used. Novelty/Applications: The Solenoid is used for positioning the faces of individual cubes, which can be arranged in different positions thereby forming all Braille characters. The high power consumption which remained the major head ache in solenoid electromagnetic actuator models was a major challenge we faced initially, which we overcame with our unique innovative design combining cubes that can rotate to form Braille dots and electromagnetic actuator which can be positioned at various places to run this cubes. So Keeping Occam\'s Razor Principle in mind, we went ahead to design a multicell/multi-line electronic refreshable Braille display as a technology demonstrator by using three simple rotating cubes. Keywords: Braille cell; Rotating cubes; Actuators; Refreshable Braille displays
Highlights
An estimated 253 million people live with vision impairment in which 36 millions are totally blind and 217 millions have moderate to severe vision impairment; 89% of people who are visually impaired lives in under -developed and developing countries
The Stepper and Servo motors were activated and Braille characters were punched by rotating cubes forming raised Braille dots and creating a refreshable Braille surface
The display unit is designed to have dimension of 120mm width to 150mm height adhering to NLS standard of Braille dot spacing, and the tactile surface will feature lines with characters per line
Summary
An estimated 253 million people live with vision impairment in which 36 millions are totally blind and 217 millions have moderate to severe vision impairment; 89% of people who are visually impaired lives in under -developed and developing countries. Chronic eye diseases are the main cause of vision loss. The vision impairment is caused by uncorrected refractive errors, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and un-operated cataract. Even though 80% of all vision impairment can be prevented or cured [1] but it can increase due to population growth and ageing. Braille is a communication medium which assists visually impaired individuals to read the information. All information needs to be learnt first and to be converted to Braille manually. It takes handsome amount of time and main inability being millions of books to be transferred to Braille. There is the need for refreshable displays which automatically converts e-books into tactile or audio output through electronically controlled micro controllers
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