Tactile Maps Research Articles

Personal protective gloves with objects recognizing for rescuing in disaster

Tactile sensing ability of human hands were the unique critical way to feel diverse objects and infer material properties which remains challenging tasks for intelligent personal protective glove, especially for salvager rescuing in disaster in some extreme environment such as earthquake, fire, avalanche or the night without light. Tactile maps of hands have been precisely recorded and analyzed by smart gloves with film-based sensor arrays, however, the comfortable and breathable performance of film-decorated gloves can’t be satisfied with long wearing time. Herein, a flexible knitted-based protective tactile sensing glove with low cost (about US$1.383) is fabricated by seamlessly stitching tiny micro-patterned (400 μm) sensors through 3D two-photon femtosecond laser direct writing strategy. The proposed tactile sensors exhibited a tunable sensing detection (0.002 kPa ∼ 300 kPa) and tunable sensitivities (0.011 kPa−1 ∼ 0.082 kPa−1). Our protective tactile sensing gloves are developed by distributing numbers of tiny tactile sensors on the glove to recognize diverse objects enabled by learning the signatures through an artificial neural network of the fully connect neural network, which can work in air, water, low temperature (−40 °C) and high temperature (116 °C) for protecting hands. Additionally, demonstrations of the protective tactile sensing glove for recognizing different hardness and different shape objects which can be used for salvager rescuing in disaster.

Pedagogical proposal of tactile graphical framework for delimiting permanent preservation areas for the visually impaired

One of the biggest challenges for visually impaired people is learning cartographic content. Among the cartographic contents, the conceptualization and delimitation of preservation areas is an applied example with extreme relevance for environmental education. This article presents the process of developing a tactile graphic scheme for environmental education for visually impaired people regarding the delimitation of permanent preservation areas around springs and rivers. The creation of the teaching resource used easily acquired materials and followed format recommendations indicated by academic literature on tactile maps. The didact resource has textual content in Braille and Roman numerals, as well as legend and graphic scale in high relief. Special care was taken so that the teaching resource can be used in an inclusive manner, involving, at the same time, blind, partially visually impaired and students with full vision, to promote an inclusive educational environment. This resource can be a useful tool for teaching cartography topics applied to environmental conservation contexts.

Structural Electronic Skin for Conformal Tactile Sensing.

The conformal integration of the electronic skin on the non-developable surface is in great demand for the comprehensive tactile sensing of robotics and prosthetics. However, the current techniques still encounter obstacles in achieving conformal integration of film-like electronic skin on non-developable surfaces with substantial curvatures for contact pressure detection and tactile mapping. In this paper, by utilizing the 3D printing technology to prepare the 3D electrode array in the structural component following its surface curvature, and covering it with a molded functional shell to form the pressure sensitive iontronic interface, a device is proposed to achieve high-sensitive pressure detection and high-fidelity tactile mapping on a complicated non-developable surface, called structural electronic skin (SES). The SES is prepared in a 3D printed fingertip with 46 tactile sensing units distributed on its curved surface, achieving the integration of both structural and tactile functions in a single component. By integrating the smart fingertip into a dexterous hand, a series of demonstrations are presented to show the dead-zone free pressure detection and tactile mapping with high sensitivity, for instance, 2D pulse wave monitoring and robotic injection in a medical robot, object recognition and compliant control in a smart prosthesis.

Semi-automatic development of thematic tactile maps

Semi-automatic development of thematic tactile maps

The importance of tactile maps in the development of spatial thinking

The importance of tactile maps in the development of spatial thinking

Tailoring Tactile Maps Based on Blind Users’ Needs

Abstract. The Sustainable Development Goals aim to "leave no one behind," including visually impaired individuals who should have equal access to information. However, the production of tactile maps for the visually impaired has been inhibited by factors such as a lack of data and technology, cartographical challenges, and high production costs. To address this issue, two research projects developed prototype tactile maps for visually impaired users and evaluated their usability through a focus group discussion and hands-on experience. In the first project, the maps were appreciated for their continuous style, thematic versatility, and proportional information density. Suggestions for improvement included the addition of a clear map title, an overview map, a mandatory legend, and distinguishable icons. Tactile maps were seen as supplementary to mobile navigation by providing a geographical overview, information about locations of interest, creating and correcting cognitive pictures of the living environment, and sharpening geographical and common knowledge. The second project focused on refining the results in multiple iterations, and for this purpose a multidisciplinary consortium was formed that, in collaboration with a test panel of visually impaired users, contributed to the aim of making tactile topography on-demand, fit-for-purpose and globally available.

A biocompatible and antibacterial all-textile structured triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered tactile sensing

With the rapid development of cutting-edge technologies, self-powered breathable wearable electronic textiles have received significant attention because of portable and convenient power sources. In this work, a biocompatible and antibacterial all-textile structured triboelectric nanogenerator was designed for self-powered tactile sensing, constructed by the MXene doped PVDF (P/M) nanofibers and the antibacterial Ag nanoparticles modified nylon 6,6 (Ag@nylon 6/6) nanofibers as the triboelectric negative and positive materials, respectively. The effect of MXenes in PVDF nanofibers for its mutual interaction, surface potential, breathability, tensile strength, biocompatibility, and triboelectric performance was evaluated thoroughly through experimental and theoretical investigations. As developed P/M nanofiber film was paired with tribopositive Ag@nylon 6/6 nanofibers to fabricate the TENG, exhibiting a high output voltage of 362 V and an output current of 38.5 μA. The triboelectric harvesting properties were further demonstrated by capacitor charging and the operation of low power devices such as the clock, 95 commercial LEDs. In addition, a self-powered tactile sensor based on the Ag@nylon 6,6 and P/M fibrous membranes realizes ultrasensitive motion and pulse detection from different arteries, and the fabricated tactile sensor array shows a great potential in the application of smart wearable keyboard as well as high-resolution tactile mapping.

Visuo-Tactile Congruence Leads to Stronger Illusion Than Visuo-Proprioceptive Congruence: a Quantitative and Qualitative Approach to Explore the Rubber Hand Illusion.

The Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) arises through multisensory congruence and informative cues from the most relevant sensory channels. Some studies have explored the RHI phenomenon on the fingers, but none of them modulated the congruence of visuo-tactile and visuo-proprioceptive information by changing the posture of the fingers. This study hypothesizes that RHI induction is possible despite a partial visuo-proprioceptive or visuo-tactile incongruence. With quantitative and qualitative measures, we observed that gradual induction of the sense of body ownership depends on the congruence of multisensory information, with an emphasis on visuo-tactile information rather than visuo-proprioceptive signals. Based on the overall measures, the RHI observed went from stronger to weaker with full congruence; visuo-proprioceptive incongruence and visuo-tactile congruence; visuo-proprioceptive congruence and visuo-tactile incongruence; full incongruence. Our results confirm that congruent visual and tactile mapping is important, though not mandatory, to induce a strong sense of ownership. By changing index finger and thumb postures rather than the rotation of the whole hand, our study investigates the contribution of visuo-proprioception and postural congruence in the field of RHI research. The results are in favor of a probabilistic multisensory integration theory and do not resonate with rules and constraints found in internal body models. The RHI could be illustrated as a continuum: the more multisensory information is congruent, the stronger the RHI.

Cognitive map formation in the blind is enhanced by three-dimensional tactile information

For blind individuals, tactile maps are useful tools to form cognitive maps through touch. However, they still experience challenges in cognitive map formation and independent navigation. Three-dimensional (3D) tactile information is thus increasingly being considered to convey enriched spatial information, but it remains unclear if it can facilitate cognitive map formation compared to traditional two-dimensional (2D) tactile information. Consequently, the present study investigated the impact of the type of sensory input (tactile 2D vs. tactile 3D vs. a visual control condition) on cognitive map formation. To do so, early blind (EB, n = 13), late blind (LB, n = 12), and sighted control (SC, n = 14) participants were tasked to learn the layouts of mazes produced with different sensory information (tactile 2D vs. tactile 3D vs. visual control) and to infer routes from memory. Results show that EB manifested stronger cognitive map formation with 3D mazes, LB performed equally well with 2D and 3D tactile mazes, and SC manifested equivalent cognitive map formation with visual and 3D tactile mazes but were negatively impacted by 2D tactile mazes. 3D tactile maps therefore have the potential to improve spatial learning for EB and newly blind individuals through a reduction of cognitive overload. Installation of 3D tactile maps in public spaces should be considered to promote universal accessibility and reduce blind individuals’ wayfinding deficits related to the inaccessibility of spatial information through non-visual means.

Semi-automated Pipeline to Produce Customizable Tactile Maps of Street Intersections for People with Visual Impairments

Abstract. Street intersections are very challenging for people with visual impairments. Manually produced tactile maps are an important support in teaching and assisting independent journeys as they can be customized to serve the visually impaired audience with diverse tactile reading and mobility skills in different use scenarios. But the manual map production involves a huge workload that makes the maps less accessible. This paper explores the possibility of semi-automatically producing customizable tactile maps for street intersections. It presents a parameterized semi-automated pipeline based on OSM data that allows the maps to be customized in size, map features, geometry processing choices, and symbolizations. It produces street intersection maps in two scales of three sizes, with different levels of details and styles.

Experimental Evaluation of Multi-scale Tactile Maps Created with SIM, a Web App for Indoor Map Authoring.

In this article, we introduce Semantic Interior Mapology (SIM), a web app that allows anyone to quickly trace the floor plan of a building, generating a vectorized representation that can be automatically converted into a tactile map at the desired scale. The design of SIM is informed by a focus group with seven blind participants. Maps generated by SIM at two different scales have been tested by a user study with 10 participants, who were asked to perform a number of tasks designed to ascertain the spatial knowledge acquired through map exploration. These tasks included cross-map pointing and path finding, and determination of turn direction/walker orientation during imagined path traversal. By and large, participants were able to successfully complete the tasks, suggesting that these types of maps could be useful for pre-journey spatial learning.

Tactile maps of historical gardens: method of content selection

Historical gardens are a significant part of the cultural heritage. Exploration of such gardens is an important element of education. A particular challenge is to increase the accessibility of these facilities for the people with visual impairments (PVI). Among the aids enabling PVI visiting the gardens are tactile maps. The currently used tactile maps focus mainly on orientation and mobility. They do not allow exploration of gardens as a spatial composition, taking into account their cultural values. Therefore, the aim of our study was to develop the rules for content selection of tactile maps presenting those features of gardens that decide about their value, and to formalize these rules using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). In this research we analyzed features of 15 gardens in the five garden design styles: Baroque, Renaissance, English, Romantic, and Japanese. In result, we have proposed the way of mapping of the five garden design styles in a form useful for PVI. We have defined the procedure of content selection, as well as the catalogues of elements to be mapped at different levels of details, distinguishing repetitive and unique elements of each style. Finally, we have defined the easy-to-use list of content elements of tactile maps in the five design styles. Our solutions are described in a formalized way that allows their unambiguous understanding and universal application. The proposed solutions contribute to increasing the accessibility of gardens to PVI and allow them to learn about the values of cultural heritage of such places.

Design and evaluation of smart-exhibit systems that enrich cultural heritage experiences for the visually impaired

Haptic contact is usually prohibited when exploring cultural heritage content. This inevitably results in an incomplete experience for the visually impaired as tactile exploration is the dominant substitute of sight. In this paper, we focus on Information and Communication Technologies utilisation to enable cultural heritage content to become more accessible to visually impaired both physically as well as intellectually and thus help foster social inclusion. We have developed three prototype systems that are based on the smart exhibit concept. This involves features that are common in Internet of Things devices such as single board computers, microcontrollers, RFIDs and proximity sensors. We combine these features in a cost-effective manner to produce haptic accessible replicas through 3D digitisation and printing that are further enriched with on-demand modular narrations. More specifically, we present aptos.Exhibit: a multi-user smart exhibition system, aptos.Map: a stand-alone interactive tactile map and aptos.myExhibit: a 3D printed miniatures and narration-based system to enable cultural reserve exploration at users’ own space and time. We describe in detail the functionality of each prototype and discuss on their implementation properties. The cultural content presented through the three prototypes derived from previous 3D digitisation projects of religious monuments located in Northern Greece. Evaluation sessions were organised with 25 visually impaired users who experienced all three systems and provided feedback. The participants opinions and suggestions were collected by using questionnaires and interviews. We present in detail the reported feedback related to the prototypes general assessment, usability, robustness and the overall offered experience of accessing the encapsulated cultural and historical content. We drive our conclusions from their responses in relation to content, interaction and experience. We further discuss on our findings related to enabling visually impaired to interactively access cultural content by fusing technologies such as Internet of Things, 3D digitisation, printing and on-demand narration.

Tactile, Orientation, and Optical Sensor Fusion for Tactile Breast Image Mosaicking

Breast cancer screening using tactile imaging (TI) is an advancing field of low-cost noninvasive medical imaging. Utilizing arrays of capacitive pressure transducers to perform a differential stress measurement of suspicious tissue, TI has been shown to be effective in measuring lesion size and stiffness, and subsequent differentiation of malignant and benign conditions, in repeated clinical studies. In order to further improve the lesion classification accuracy of clinical TI, this article presents a novel method of mosaicking tactile images to form a large composite tactile map using the vein structure within the breast to spatially register tactile data. This article demonstrates practical nonrigid tactile image mosaicking, using probe contact force and relative orientation sensor fusion to correct for the tissue deformation during tactile scanning, miniaturized and applied to a pre-clinical TI prototype. Testing of the proposed TI prototype on representative, tissue-mimicking, and silicone breast phantoms, with varying baseline elasticity and internal vein structure, yields typical image registration accuracies of 0.33% ± 0.15%. In similar testing, the proposed system measures the background elasticity of the samples with worst case error < 4.5% over the range of 9–60 kPa, required for accurate lesion characterization. This work will lead into further clinical validation of TI for measurement and classification of in situ phantom and breast lesions, utilizing the delivered metrics from this work to improve differentiation accuracy.

Multivalent Cartographic Accessibility: Tactile Maps for Collaborative Decision-Making

Conventional visual maps present significant accessibility challenges for blind or low vision users, leaving them with few or no options for interpreting spatial data. This need not be the case: tactile maps, designed to be read through touch, have been published for more than a century. But they have most often been categorized as a navigation tool, or mere “tactile graphics” (i.e., not as expressly spatial documents). Tactile maps that allow their users to explore and synthesize thematic spatial data are rare, as are studies evaluating them. As our world continues to face existential threats that are spatial in nature—pandemics, supply chain disruptions, floods, etc.—maps will continue to provide critical information in ways that other media are unable to match. In the absence of accessible thematic maps, blind people will not only be left out of the loop, but their capacity for contributing valuable input will be severely diminished. In response, I describe here a study that evaluates the potential of thematic tactile maps for providing blind users an accessible means of analyzing spatial data when working in collaboration with sighted partners. Findings indicate that while the maps did not prove to be useful tools on their own, they did facilitate collaboration between blind or low vision participants and sighted participants. This suggests that, with some refinements, similar maps could be feasibly distributed as a means for people with visual disabilities to meaningfully participate in an otherwise inaccessible process that requires the synthesis of thematic spatial information.

Exploiting the haptic and audio channels to improve orientation and mobility apps for the visually impaired.

Orientation and mobility apps for visually impaired people are well known to be effective in improving the quality of life for this target group. A mobile application that guides a visually impaired person step-by-step through a physical space is a valuable aid, but it does not provide an overview of a complex environment "at a glance," as a traditional hard-copy tactile map does. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a smartphone GPS map, enriched with haptic and audio hints, can facilitate cognitive mapping for visually impaired users. Encouraged by a preliminary study conducted in co-operation with two visually impaired volunteers, we designed and developed an Android prototype for exploration of an urban area. Our goal was to provide an affordable, portable and versatile solution to help users increase awareness of an environment through the positions of its landmarks and points of interest. Vibro-tactile and audio hints were linked to the coordinates on the map via the GeoJSON data format and were issued exploiting the text-to-speech and vibration features of the mobile device, as they were displayed through the operating system's APIs. Test sessions and interviews with visually impaired users produced encouraging results. Results, to be verified by more extensive testing, overall confirm the validity of our approach and are in line with results found in the literature.

A Novel Vision-Based Tactile Sensor Using Lamination and Gilding Process for Improvement of Outdoor Detection and Maintainability

This article presents a novel vision-based tactile sensor (VBTS) using a pioneering process route to solve the problem of high process cost and low maintainability. We adopt the acrylic double-sided adhesive to prepare a high-quality elastomer through the lamination process and the metal foil to fabricate a semimirror coating through the gilding process. Our scheme does not rely on any equipment enabling hardware to be fabricated or replaced manually both indoors and outdoors. Compared with the current preparation schemes, the preparation/repair of an elastomer and coating takes only 10/5 min and costs only 0.055/0.035 USD. Through imaging tests, the foil can obtain high-resolution tactile mapping comparable to that of representative VBTSs. Depending on the high-efficiency preparation, we leverage cost advantages to compensate for the lack of elastomer and coating durability. This work also explores the feasibility of outdoor detection. We apply it to detect fossils for the first time and establish a deep-learning model that achieves 100% accuracy in identifying six kinds of paleontological and plant fossils. The results show that our sensor has potential application in outdoor detection.

Flexible Plasmonic Optical Tactile Sensor for Health Monitoring and Artificial Haptic Perception

AbstractTactile sensors capable of quantifying mechanical stimuli through physical contact play a pivotal role in healthcare, prosthetics, and humanoid robotics. To enable conformal contact with objects of different surface morphologies, tactile sensors with high mechanical flexibility are extensively explored. Despite recent advances, most of the currently available flexible tactile sensors are based on electrical properties of functional materials, which often suffer from intrinsic limitations such as hysteresis, parasitic effects and electromagnetic interference. Herein, a flexible optical tactile sensor is presented by harnessing the unique optical properties of a soft and plasmonic optical fiber, made from composites of gold nanoparticles and elastomers. The tactile sensor is constructed by assembling the nanocomposite fiber in a sandwich structure, where sensitive and instantaneous sensing of contact force with high precision, low hysteresis, and tunable sensitivity is achieved by transducing mechanical stimuli into interpretable light signals. As demonstrations of its potential, the tactile sensor is utilized for real‐time monitoring of blood pressure, respiration, as well as providing tactile mapping of diverse hand motions. To further verify the feasibility of mimicking tactile perception of human skin, the proposed sensors integrated onto a robotic hand are demonstrated to perceive hardness, roughness, and shape of objects.

Spatial cognition training rapidly induces cortical plasticity in blind navigation: Transfer of training effect & Granger causal connectivity analysis.

How is the cortical navigation network reorganized by the Likova Cognitive-Kinesthetic Navigation Training? We measured Granger-causal connectivity of the frontal-hippocampal-insular-retrosplenial-V1 network of cortical areas before and after this one-week training in the blind. Primarily top-down influences were seen during two tasks of drawing-from-memory (drawing complex maps and drawing the shortest path between designated map locations), with the dominant role being congruent influences from the egocentric insular to the allocentric spatial retrosplenial cortex and the amodal-spatial sketchpad of V1, with concomitant influences of the frontal cortex on these areas. After training, and during planning-from-memory of the best on-demand path, the hippocampus played a much stronger role, with the V1 sketchpad feeding information forward to the retrosplenial region. The inverse causal influences among these regions generally followed a recursive feedback model of the opposite pattern to a subset of congruent influences. Thus, this navigational network reorganized its pattern of causal influences with task demands and the navigation training, which produced marked enhancement of the navigational skills.

Accessible tourism as an educational resource for the socialization of children with disabilities

The key factors in the new economy are formation of an accessible environment for people with disabilities, including disabled children. This issue is one of the priorities of the states included in the world educational space and is considered as the realization of the constitutional rights of citizens. This activity was initiated by a number of international and domestic documents. In our country the formation of an accessible environment is carried out in the aspect of the implementation of the State Program of the Russian Federation «Accessibility», which provides for the creation of a barrier-free environment for the effective integration of citizens with disabilities into society. This initiates pedagogical research devoted to the study of the educational opportunities of accessible tourism for the full integration of children with disabilities in society. This circumstance confirms the relevance of our research and allowed us to formulate the research problem, which is to identify the possibilities of accessible tourism as an educational resource for the socialization of children with disabilities.The purpose of the research is to substantiate the possibilities of accessible tourism as an educational resource for the socialization of children with disabilities. To achieve this goal, the following research methods were used: the study of scientific literature and information from Internet sources, analysis, generalization, description.The results of the research are as follows the role of cultural and educational tourism as an effective tool for the social rehabilitation of minors with disabilities in a specially organized accessibleenvironment has been revealed. Using the example of barrier-free inclusive tourism, the experience of using the accessible environment as an educational resource for the socialization of children with disabilities has been described.Key conclusions are: cultural and educational tourism has an impact on the education of the personality of a disabled child, developing, first of all, his emotional and value attitude to cultural heritage and creating conditions for the spiritual sublimation of his needs, which can often not be satisfied in real life; the creation of a barrier-free environment in relation to tourism activities includes augmented reality technologies (mobile applications for museums, virtual tours, tours in sign language, tactile maps, etc.). The conclusion is drawn that the development of accessible tourism is a powerful factor in the socialization of children with disabilities in a new educational environment.