Breakthrough Design Opens Door to 'Full Screen' Braille Displays for the Blind From: Science Daily - 03/29/2010 Researchers from North Carolina State University are developing a display system that would allow the blind to take full advantage of the Web and other computer applications. Read the entire article at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329093611.htm?utm_source=fee Link: Braille Display Goes High-Tech http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wmsdispignabraille/ Submitted by Ray Grott --- Electroactive Polymer Design Opens Door to 'Full Screen' Displays for the Blind From: NCSU News - 03/29/2010 By: Matt Shipman North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers are developing a display system that would allow the blind to utilize the Web and other applications. "The last 20 years of computer technology have been relatively inaccessible - and today's common mobile computing devices, from smart-phones to digital navigators and iPads, have been completely nonexistent - to blind people, because the display technology for the blind has not kept pace," says NCSU researcher David Winick. The researchers have developed a concept called a hydraulic and latching mechanism that would allow the development of a full-page, refreshable Braille display system. The system also could translate images into tactile displays, allowing the full-page Braille display to represent the images as raised dots. The mechanism would be made of an electroactive polymer that is resilient and inexpensive. "We hope to have a fully functioning prototype of the mechanism within a year, and that could serve as the functional building block of a full-screen refreshable display," says NCSU professor Neil Di Spigna.