[Blindmath] using tactile graphics

[Jared Wright]

I use the puffed paper on occasion only because an embosser is not 
readily available. IN my limited experience, the embossers have 
definitely gotten to be quite good, but the school just won't make the 
investment, and I can't make the investment.

Good luck, JW

On 7/23/2009 2:00 PM, Dianne T Pawluk/FS/VCU wrote:
> 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
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