[nfbcs] Touchscreen interface for tablets

[majolls at cox.net]

Hi everyone ... here's a new thread ... see what you think.  It's about having a Braille interface on a tablet.

I recently did a search on "Braille Touch Tablet" ... just to see if anything popped up.  What I got back led me to a very interesting website.  The website is tactustechnology.com, and it contains brief information about a company that is developing a tactile interface for tablets ... flat screen devices such as iPhones, iPods, iPads, Galaxy tablet, etc... which presently have no tactile touch interface.  You have to, at present, see the icons on the interface, and use your sight to touch the icon to launch programs, etc... The key to this is that you have to see things to touch them and operate them.  And without such technology as Apple provides like VoiceOver, you're pretty much screwed if you can't see it.

Tactus Technologies (tactustechnology.com) is trying to change that.  You can go to their website and they have a video about what they're working on.  In a nutshell, they're working on developing an interface that will allow "buttons" to "rise up" off of your flat tablet device ... thus providing a tactile interface.  I believe I recall in the video that they said the buttons can be as small or large as you want.  My guess is that when incorporated into a tablet, a layer will be built into the screen that will allow the surface to be "stimulated" and rise up in different shapes providing a tactile "bump" on the screen.  I'm also guessing that there will be software in the operating system of the Tablet that will provide an API available to all applications that run on the tablet.  Any application can do what it needs to do.  If it chooses to create buttons on the tablet, it can call the API as part of its programming.  If it doesn't need buttons, it doesn't have to use the features.

This technology as I see it will need to be incorporated into the construction of tablets - made part of the screen technology that is used by the tablet.  So probably current iPads or iPhones won't be able to use this.  I'm pretty sure they're going to have to come out with a physical sheet of special material that will be incorporated into the "screen" of the device which will respond to electrical (or some other) stimuli that will cause the surface of the tablet to "morph" (as they say) and cause a button to pop up.

You can see the application for Braille immediately if they can start incorporating this technology into the next generation of tablets ... so this could be a couple of years away.  Imagine the technology is incorporated into a tablet and you have a "Braille E-Reader" application.  The application has a book downloaded to it, opens the book, and determines the text to be rendered on the tablet.  It then programatically calls an API to render the data read into Braille on the tablet and that causes the dots to form on the touch screen.  Volla!!  Instant braille.

The way Tactus talks on its video, it's going to be incorporating this into a lot of tablet / smart phone / type devices.  If it can install the technology over a huge audience, I would see R&D costs would be recouped quickly and that would ... hopefully ... drive prices down.

And if they can do that, then it's just another application to write to make a Braille display.  Perhaps a 40 character Braille display on the iPad.  Perhaps a multi-line 40 cell display.  And, they could even cause a 9 key Perkins interface to appear at the bottom of the tablet display.  So maybe you now have a 40 character Braille Display for what .... $1000?  Maybe less?

I emailed Tactus and they inform them they have been in communication with the NFB.  WOW!!!  Tactus also says we should be seeing some first entries into the market by 2013.  They inform me that Braille is not something they are ready to come to market with yet ... but I wanted to tell you all this to let you know that perhaps a technology has come out that can replace the existing Braille Display technology which is so costly .. causing Braille Displays to be $2000-$7000.  If this technology can be made widely available in a lot of applications .. and not just in disability related areas ... we could really see the cost go down ... maybe causing the Braille Displays drop in price when that happens.

Anyway, I got really excited about this when I saw the potential.  I realize it's not available now, but with the development of this technology, an e-Reader on a Tablet that yields a full .. or even partial ... page of Braille with some navigation controls would make Braille available to the masses in an electronic setting ... and hopefully at a significant drop in price.

Imagine being able to take Braille with you on a Tablet ... and having the dots pop up and you don't have to worry about getting external particles into them and clogging up the device ... and having the Tablet at an affordable price!!!

Only time will tell, but I'm excited.  Let me know what you think.

Mike Jolls