Braille cursor: An innovative and affordable refreshable braille display designed for inclusion

Abstract

In this work we present an innovative, low-cost Refreshable Braille Display (RBD): the key feature of the developed method is represented by a single actuated cursor that refreshes Braille cells composed of mechanically simple, passive pins. In particular, a single electromagnetic actuator, moved on a linear slider, is capable of refreshing a full row of passive pins: each pin consists in a simple metal cylinder and can be reconfigured in a low or high state by an external magnetic field. The design based on passive pins, operated by a single moving actuator, makes the cost of the device almost independent on the number of Braille cells. This is suitable for application in either portable (up to 40 Braille cells) or desktop use (more than 40 Braille cells). Moreover, once the line is refreshed, the pins require no energy to hold their configuration and can withstand very high forces applied by the reading fingers. Finally, dimensions of the passive pins, differently from traditional piezo-actuated RBDs, allow for implementation in matrices of tactile pins displaying not only Braille characters but also generic two dimensional shapes.