Researchers from the Sungkyunkwan University in Korea, along with the University of Nevada, US, have developed a flexible tactile display that could be used as a Braille display, for visually impaired people.

The device wraps around the finger link a band-aid and can make them feel the images that would normally appear on the display. The researchers are trying to take advantage of our most widespread sense, the touch.

The flexible display is really revolutionary through it’s capabilities to change it’s shape and also because is soft. It can’t be compared to any other actual device of it’s kind and if it does prove successful, it might be a true help for visually impaired.

Ig Mo Koo, one of the researchers, stated that “When you apply a normal device to a non-flat surface like human skin, it is impossible to stimulate the whole skin through its shape. In the case of a wearable tactile display, however, it can be applicable to many kinds of surfaces without the limitation of stimulus area because of its flexibility.”

Some of the usages researchers see in the future of this device are in communication, tactile display cloth, tele-surgical glove, virtual reality keyboard, tele-feeling transferring system and much more.

“When we make it using a normal device, stimulus elements can be attached only in a limited area. But if we develop it as a wearable tactile display, it is possible to not only make a glove-type in the process of manufacturing, but also apply stimulus elements on the whole part of the glove,” Koo said.

One of it’s advantages is the use of a material that can stimulate the skin without any electromechanical transmission, the electroactive polymer, which consists of eight layers of dielectric elastomer actuator films, sprayed with electrodes.

The skin is protected from the electrodes by a layer and the entire sheet is just 210 micrometers thick. The device conveys information to the user, by inducing a voltage across the films, which compresses them down and expands them outward. This makes the film to induce the user a mild sensation, by putting pressure on his skin.

Due to the use of polymers, the device is hyperelastic, being able to support large amounts of elastic strain then return to it’s original shape. Also it’s very efficient on power, not very expensive and the fabrication process is relatively easy, because it doesn’t use complex electronics.

The researchers are planning to make it even more efficient and develop applications that will make it a must for visually impaired.

Via Physorg