SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project will develop a wearable tactile display system for blind individuals. The goal is to develop a tactile display which has the following features: (1) lightness, (2) conformability, (3) high spatial resolution, (4) low power consumption, and (5) low manufacturing cost. The proposed technology will consist of an array of novel micro-fluidic tactile actuators, which can provide spatial resolution that has never before been achieved in a tactile display utilizing standard actuators like piezoelectric actuators or vibrators. The project will further integrate the proposed tactile display with a talking tactile tablet, an award winning system which allows visually impaired individuals to access graphic imagery they otherwise would not be able to access and hear audio descriptions of each component of an image. By integrating our tactile display system with talking tactile tablet, the following two major limitations will be surmounted: 1) the current system of printing on special paper with raised lines and texture fills is cumbersome, takes time and cannot be modified, and 2) the lack of access to content that is widely available electronically to sighted users. Consequently, the proposed research will improve access to education - mathematical concepts such as graphs, and geographical maps; entertainment and will promote navigation skills by map reading. A wearable, lightweight, low power tactile display has excellent applicability not just in the field of education for blind individuals, but also in a variety of other fields. A tactile display-enabled talking tactile tablet product that targets education alone could represent a market potential of at least $16 million in the US and at least $32 million worldwide. In addition to a wearable tactile display coupled to a portable talking tactile tablet display for individual use, it is also envisioned that a larger kiosk version could be developed for institutional use, the cumulative market potential for which is at least $219 million domestically, and at least $428 million worldwide.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on the development of a novel system for communication with computer through touch, particularly relevant to blind individuals. The system includes a newly developed Tactile Display Device (TDD) technology with miniature thermo-fluidic actuators that uniquely revolutionizes the way humans interact with different machines and systems using a wearable tactile display. The proposed new technology is a significant breakthrough as the concept of sensing touch actuation based on bubble formation and vapor pressure has a wide potential for miniaturization, embedding, flexibility, and wearable possibilities with amplitude and force of actuation not achieved by other means so far. The specific objectives of the project are to improve the actuator modules and the TDD developed during Phase I of the project, so that the technology can be brought to market. The research will impact both the education and scientific segments of the market by addressing many challenges in application of bubble and vapor based motive power in miniature systems. Additionally, this outcomes of this work is expected to catalyze new avenues and variants discovered by the scientific community working in the areas of miniature actuators and systems, eventually leading to new innovations in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and in nanosystems. The research has very high societal impact potential as it addresses the blind population market segment that is somewhat neglected by the larger corporations due to its relatively smaller size. The blind population is not benefiting fully by the latest trend in information decimation increasingly through internet and computer based mediums. As these medium are highly graphic and visual in nature, alternate and enhanced interfaces with computers that use touch to convey information will be of great service and importance in making the visually impaired population more informed and productive.