Helping the Blind "See"
From: NASA Tech Briefs Insider - 11/05/2007

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has licensed two
technologies that could bring affordable graphic reading systems to the blind
and visually impaired. The two systems bring electronic images to life in the
same way that Braille makes words readable. 

The first technology, a tactile graphic display device, allows a person to
feel a succession of images on a reusable surface by raising 3,600 small pins
(actuator points) into a pattern that can be locked in place, read by touch,
and then reset to display the next graphic. Each image, from scanned
illustrations, Web pages, or other sources, is sent electronically to the
reader, where special software determines how to create a matching tactile
display. 

The other technology is an array of about 100 small, closely spaced actuator
points set against a user's fingertip. To "view" a computer graphic, a blind
or visually impaired person moves their device-tipped finger across a surface
like a computer mouse to scan an image in computer memory. The computer sends
a signal to the display device and moves the actuators against the skin to
"translate" the pattern, replicating the sensation of the finger moving over
the pattern being displayed. 

The technology could be used to make fingertip tactile graphics practical for
virtual reality systems or give a detailed sense of touch to robotic control
and space suit gloves. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2007_1025.htm#blind

Links:
NIST 'Pins' Down Imaging System for the Blind
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/visualdisplay.htm

NIST 'Pins' Down Imaging System for the Blind - 2002
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/11/021113072111.htm

Image of the tactile graphic display
http://patapsco.nist.gov/ImageGallery/retrieve.cfm?imageid=403&dpi=72&fileformat=jpg

Converting Digital Information into Braille - 2000
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/gallery/braille.htm

NIST Refreshable Tactile Braille Display : A New Low-Cost Technology - 2004
http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf/2004/proceedings/152.htm