Glove-based Tactile Streaming of Braille Characters and Digital Images for the Visually Impaired

为视障人士提供基于手套的盲文字符和数字图像触觉流传输

• 批准号: 10601900
• 负责人: Michel Albert Audette
• 金额: $ 25.72万
• 依托单位: HAPTX INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-30 至 2024-09-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10601900
• 关键词: 12 year old; 3-Dimensional; Address; Adult; Age; Algorithmic Software; Blindness; Braille Display; Calibration; Characteristics; Child; Collection; Communities; Computer software; Consultations; Coupling; Data; Development; Encapsulated; Endowment; Engineering; Eye diseases; Fingers; Foundations; Fracture; Genetic Transcription; Goals; Growth; Hand; Health; Image; Individual; Label; Length; Manuals; Maps; Mental Depression; Modality; Monitor; Multimedia; Network-based; Optometrist; Palpable; Paper; Patients; Perception; Phase; Population; Prevalence; Process; Quality of life; Readability; Reader; Reading; Research; Research Personnel; Resolution; Risk; Sculpture; Semantics; Stream; Students; Surface; System; Tablets; Tactile; Technology; Text; Thumb structure; Time; Validation; Vision; Visual Acuity; Visual impairment; age related; aging population; blind; braille; cohort; computerized; deep learning; deep neural network; demographics; density; design; digital; digital imaging; disability; fall risk; haptic feedback; haptic technology; haptics; indexing; lexical; multimodality; neural network; object recognition; open source; pressure; spatiotemporal; validation studies; virtual

This project will achieve a computerized system that supplies digital content, both lexical and graphical, suitable for children, students and working adults of the Visually Impaired (VId) community, to increase their autonomy and potentiate their Quality of Life and societal contribution. While there is notable academic research, such as a high-density pin display tablet, there is no commercial, broadly functional, full-page Braille reader. A tablet reader is potentially limiting in comparison with bimanual haptic gloves, limiting any content complementary to Braille text. In contrast, haptic gloves support both Braille lexical content and palpable digital images. The proposed system will encapsulate a full-length Braille reader, not limited to a page at a time but supplying a limitless stream of characters readable by four fingers in each hand as dictated by the content, while also supporting haptic actuation of embedded pictorial content. This glove-based approach will unlock, for an underserved VId clientele, a vast collection of multimedia content currently the exclusive domain of the seeing population, as Braille lexical content and palpable bas-relief of graphical content. Phase I will center on a haptic system for Braille display of full-length text, sensed by the fingers of both hands and based on a redesigned commercial bimanual glove-based haptic system. A software algorithm will stream and stagger the Braille content to each finger to replicate the bimanual reading process of a VId reader. The system will also feature a tactile bas-relief version of digital images embedded in the text. Phase II will develop Haptic VR, demonstrating the utility of overlaying Braille characters on a haptic curved surface and paving the way for vitally important haptic sensing of labeled 2D/3D graphics by VId users. A long-term goal is to apply this VR foundation to geolocated Haptic AR, enabling haptic overlay of Braille labels on everyday surfaces, from appliances to groceries, by suitable integration of haptic rendering with 3D range-sensing and DNN-based object recognition. Specific Aims – The Phase I Aims are as follows. Aim 1. High-resolution haptic gloves for Braille streaming- Development of bimanual high-resolution haptic gloves, featuring dense actuation at eight fingertips, by Haptx. The thumbs will also get haptic feedback. Aim 2. Haptic rendering of lexical and graphical content 2A. Lexical reader - A software transcription will support spatiotemporal streaming of lexical data that moves the haptic footprint of Braille characters serially from the first to the eighth finger. 2B. Graphical reader – The conversion of a digital image to a haptic bas-relief will exploit fast DNN-based image semantic segmentation, where each label will be mapped to an actuator pressure. 2C. Finger-based calibration- Both modalities will be supported by a virtual page defined on a tabletop, whose coordinates are found by a simple calibration based on three points identified by the index fingers.

该项目将实现一个计算机化系统，该系统提供词汇和图形的数字内容， 适用于视力障碍（VID）社区的儿童，学生和工作成年人，以增加他们的 自主权和潜在的生活质量和社会贡献。虽然有明显的学术 研究，例如高密度引脚显示片剂，没有商业，功能广泛，完整页面 盲文读者。平板电脑的读取器可能与双触觉手套相比有可能限制，从而限制了任何 盲文文本的内容完整。相比之下，触觉手套都支持盲文词汇含量和 明显的数字图像。 提出的系统将封装全长盲文读取器，一次不限于页面，而是 按照内容的规定，每只手用四个手指可读取的无限字符流， 同时还支持嵌入式图形内容的触觉致动。这种基于手套的方法将解锁， 对于服务不足的VID客户端，目前有大量的多媒体内容是 看到的种群，作为图形内容的盲文词汇含量和可显而易见的浮雕。 第一阶段将集中在胸罩系统上，用于盲文显示全长文本，两者的手指感知 手，基于重新设计的基于双人手套的触觉系统。软件算法 将把盲文内容流式流式传输到每只手指上，以复制vid的双人阅读过程 读者。该系统还将配备文本中嵌入的数字图像的触觉浮雕版本。 第二阶段将发展触觉VR，证明将盲文字符叠加在触觉上的实用性 弯曲的表面，为通过VID标记的2D/3D图形的至关重要的触觉传感铺平了道路 用户。一个长期的目标是将此VR基础应用于地理触觉AR，使触觉覆盖 通过适当整合触觉渲染 具有3D范围感应和基于DNN的对象识别。具体目标 - 第一阶段的目标如下。 AIM 1。用于盲文流的高分辨率触觉手套 - 双人高分辨率触觉的开发 手套，八个指尖，由HAPAX八个指尖进行了密集的驱动。拇指也将获得触觉反馈。 目标2。词汇和图形内容的触觉渲染 2a。词汇阅读器 - 软件转录将支持词汇数据的时空流媒体流 从第一个手指到第八手指，将盲文角色的触觉足迹移动。 2b。图形读取器 - 将数字图像转换为触觉浮雕将利用快速DNN的基于DNN 图像语义分割，每个标签将映射到执行器压力。 2C。基于手指的校准 - 这两种方式都将由桌面上定义的虚拟页面支持， 通过基于索引手指识别的三个点的简单校准，其坐标是通过简单的校准找到的。