A Compliant Mechanism Design for Refreshable Braille Display Using Shape Memory Alloy

Sapra, Pulkit; Parsurampuria, Ankit Kumar; Gupta, Dhruv; Muralikrishnan, Suman; Raj, Mayank; Asundi, Anand; Darda, Vinit; Paul, Rohan; Balakrishnan, M.; Rao, P. V. M.

doi:10.1115/detc2015-47468

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…A common approach has been to use Nitinol wires that are actuated through resistive heating. Actuator configurations vary from wires that bend cantilever beams to raise and lower pins [3], to Nitinol springs that compress to create reciprocating motion for the same effect [4]. Fewer design configurations have explored Nitinol in its sheet form for tactile actuators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming a Monolithic Sheet of Nitinol into a Passive Reconfigurable Tactile Pixel Array Display at Braille Resolution

Bhatnagar¹,

Marquardt²,

Miodownik³

et al. 2021

2021 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC)

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Shape changing materials create a unique opportunity to design reconfigurable tactile display actuators. In this paper, we present a method that transforms a single thin monolithic sheet of Nitinol into a passive reconfigurable tactile pixel array at Braille resolution. We have designed a 27x27 tactile pixel array in which each pixel can be selectively actuated with an external source of heat. The pixels rise 0.4mm vertically with a peak blocked force of 0.28kg and have an average blocked force of 0.23kg at room temperature. After cooling, the pixels can be mechanically reconfigured back to their flat state for repeatable actuation. We demonstrate this actuator's interactive capabilities through a novel erasable tactile drawing interface.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming a Monolithic Sheet of Nitinol into a Passive Reconfigurable Tactile Pixel Array Display at Braille Resolution

Bhatnagar¹,

Marquardt²,

Miodownik³

et al. 2021

2021 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC)

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“…These devices display different braille characters by toggling pins between raised and lowered positions. Though traditionally these devices have relied on relatively large piezoelectric actuators, proposed actuation concepts include microfluidics [10]- [12], electroactive polymers [13]- [15] and shape-memory alloys [16]- [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Compact Modular Soft Surface With Reconfigurable Shape and Stiffness

Robertson

Murakami

Felt

et al. 2019

IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron.

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A variety of reconfigurable surface devices, utilizing large numbers of actuated physical pixels to produce discretized 3D contours, have been developed for different purposes in research and industry. The difficulty of integrating many actuators in close configuration has limited the DoF and resolution and performance of existing devices. Utilizing vacuum power and soft material actuators, we have developed a soft reconfigurable surface (SRS) with multi-modal control and performance capabilities. The SRS is comprised of a square grid array of linear vacuum-powered soft pneumatic actuators (linear V-SPAs), built into plug-and-play modules which enable the arrangement, consolidation, and control of many DoF. In addition to the practical benefits of system integration, this architecture facilitates the construction of customized assemblies with an overall compact form factor. A series of experiments is performed to illustrate and validate the versatility of the SRS for achieving diverse tasks including force controlled modulation of interface pressure through integrated sensors, lateral manipulation of a variety of objects, static and dynamic shape and pattern generation for haptic interaction, and variable surface stiffness tuning. This SRS concept is scalable, space efficient and features diverse functional potential. This will extend the utility and accessibility of tangible robotic interfaces for future applications from industrial to home and personal use.

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“…It ispossible for such peopleto acquir-einformationconveniently by using this apparatus. However,existingBraille displayproducts usually consist of a single line and socan only provide a small amount ofcontent toreadin each operation, andtheir cost is high due to their complex configurationand thespecial materials used (Sugino and Asaka 2011, Chakraborti et al 2012, Velazquez et al 2012, Matsunaga et al 2013, Sapra et al 2016, Soule and Lazarus 2016.Thisshortageof current products keepsvisually impaired persons from using suchdevices, especially those who areunemployed. It is necessary to develop a cheap,full-page Braille display tosolvethese problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operational durability of a giant ER valve for Braille display

Han

et al. 2017

Smart Mater. Struct.

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The compact configuration of giant ER (electrorheological) valves provides the possibility of realizing a full-page Braille display. The operational durability of ER valves is a key issue in fulfilling a Braille display. A giant ER valve was used to investigate the variations in pressure drops and critical pressure drops of the valves over a long period under some typical operational parameters. The results indicate that neither the pressure drops nor critical pressure drops of giant ER valves show apparent deterioration over a long period. Without ER fluid exchange, a blockage appears in the channel of the valve because the ER structures induced by an external electric field cannot be broken by the Brownian motion of hydraulic oil molecules when the external electric field is removed. Forcing ER fluid flow is an effective and necessary method to keep the channel of the valve unblocked. Thus the operational durability of the valve using giant ER fluids is able to meet the demands of Braille display.

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A Compliant Mechanism Design for Refreshable Braille Display Using Shape Memory Alloy

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Transforming a Monolithic Sheet of Nitinol into a Passive Reconfigurable Tactile Pixel Array Display at Braille Resolution

Transforming a Monolithic Sheet of Nitinol into a Passive Reconfigurable Tactile Pixel Array Display at Braille Resolution

A Compact Modular Soft Surface With Reconfigurable Shape and Stiffness

Operational durability of a giant ER valve for Braille display

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