Hello,
My graduate student Bruce Stansell and myself are new to the
nfb-rd list. We are attempting to develop a new type of mechanical Braille
Display which will be portable and inexpensive. The technique of using it
to read braille is different (by application of the principle of
classical relativity) in that one holds the reading finger/s at rest and
the braille cells move underneath the finger. This is accomplished by
placing the braille cells on a moving disk where they are constantly set
by six solenoids. Another student (X. Yong Lu) has built a prototype
braille display containing two large braille cells. A description of this
is available at: www.acs.appstate.edu/dept/physics. The prototype was a MS
thesis in Applied Physics. We have demonstrated this device to Dr. Cranmer
and personnel at the American Printing House in Louisville.
The portable braille display (PBD) now being constructed will have
about 36 braille cells that will rotate on a disk. About half of those
braille characters will be available to read at any time. If all goes well
we hope to make the braille cells the same size as found in books. The PBD
will also contain a 1.44 MEG floppy disk so that stored information can be
read. It will also have the ability to be connected to a PC parallel port
so that ASCII data can be displayed. We will be using switches to control
the flow of braille, these include speed, rewrite a sentence and rewrite a
paragraph. When the person reading the braille wants to stop, a mark will
be placed on the data (Book MarK) on the floppy so that reading can resume
at that location.
Since we are both sighted people, we have a handicap, we are
trying to find out what characteristics the PBR should have to make it
flexible and of good use for the blind, while still keeping it
inexpensive. That is why we went to Louisville. Previously, we have twice
visited the Gov. Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, NC and have
talked with a braille teacher, rehabilitation teacher who trains adults in
the use of braille displays and the principle of the school. We have asked
to be put on the nfb-rd list so that we might be able to discuss these
items with you. Any and all thoughts you might have on the characteristics
of the PBD will be appreciated.
Tom Rokoske
___________________________________________________________________________
Thomas L. Rokoske
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
rokosketl@appstate.edu
http://www.acs.appstate.edu/dept/physics/
704-262-2432
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