• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.739-747
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• 2011

Objective: The present study evaluated information presentation methods applicable to a wearable Braille display in terms of performance and satisfaction measures. Background: A Braille display wearable at a finger can improve accessibility of information for the blind by presenting information in real time. Method: A Braille display with six pins operated by DC servomotors was developed to simulate four information presentation methods(active, stationary, simultaneous, and sequential methods). An evaluation experiment was conducted with 16 participants(8 normal and 8 blind participants) by using three objective measures(reaction time, RT, unit: sec; recognition time, CT, unit: sec; correct response percentage, CP) and two subjective measures(overall satisfaction, OS; perception easiness, PE) with a 7-point scale. Results: The average RTs and CTs of the active and stationary methods were significantly shorter than those of the simultaneous and sequential methods for the blind participants. Also, the average CPs, OSs, and PEs of the active and sequential methods were significantly higher than those of the stationary and simultaneous methods. Conclusion: The active and sequential methods were preferred to the other methods for the blind. Application: The performance characteristics identified in the present study for the four braille display methods can be utilized to develop an effective wearable Braille display system.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.89-101
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• 2006

Tactile sensation is one of the most important sensory functions for human perception of objects. Recently, there have been many technical challenges in the field of tactile display as well as tactile sensing. In this paper, we propose an innovative tactile display device based on soft actuator technology with ElectroActive Polymer(EAP). This device offers advantageous features over existing devices with respect to intrinsic flexibility, softness, ease of fabrication and miniaturization, high power density, and cost effectiveness. In particular, it can be adapted to various geometric configurations because it possesses structural flexibility, so it can be worn on any part of the human body such as finger, palm, and arm etc. It can be extensively applied as a wearable tactile display, a Braille device for the visually disabled, and a human interface in the future. A new design of the flexible actuator is proposed and its basic operational principles are discussed. In addition, a wearable tactile display device with $4{\times}5$ actuator array(20 actuator cells) is developed and its effectiveness is confirmed.