[Blindmath] using tactile graphics

[Dianne T Pawluk/FS/VCU]

Hi Everyone,

I am a researcher at VCU whose lab group is working on developing haptic 
computer interface
devices and interactive display methods for tactile graphics.  As 
background for the question
that I would like to ask, I would like to tell you about one of the 
devices that we made.  It is
an improved, low-cost tactile mouse.  However, it differs from previous 
tactile mice, such as
the VT Player, in that it solves some of the problems that we feel make 
using the VT Player
or similar devices very difficult to use.  The first problem we identified 
is that the VT Player
and all other tactile devices that use an optical mouse sensor, suffers 
from a significant
lack of accuracy in the haptic position information, which is critical for 
interpreting a graphic.
It also has a lack of spatial concordance between the position information 
of the optical
sensor and the tactile arrays, which is particularly noticeable when the 
mouse is rotated. 
It also has a slow temporal response, which creates a time delay which 
makes it difficult
to use when moving the device quickly.  We have fixed all these problems 
and have developed 
a fully functional device for less than $400 US.  We would like to test 
our device against other
tactile mice and the typically used method for displaying tactile 
graphics.

My question is that when you are in an educational or work environment and 
need to
create and use a graph, would you use a Braille embosser to create the 
graphic or puff paper?
Unfortunately, the way our experiment is designed, we can only really 
afford the time
to look at one of these (as otherwise, with the other factors involved the 
experiment would
become very tiresome) and would like to choose the method typically used 
by the
expected end users of our device.

Thanks very much for your help!  And if you have any questions you would 
like to
ask about our work, feel free to do so.

Sincerely,
Dianne Pawluk