DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/GQ2V-2B42

Defense Date

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Biomedical Engineering

First Advisor

Dianne Pawluk

Abstract

Dynamic, refreshable tactile displays offer a method of displaying graphical information to people who are blind or visually impaired. Texture, which is already used as an effective method to present graphical information in physical tactile diagrams, conceivably constitutes the best way to present graphics through a tactile display. This thesis presents the design of a new low-cost haptic matrix display device capable of displaying graphical information through virtual textures. The perception of virtual textures through the display is examined through three main experiments. The first two experiments examine the perception of square wave gratings through the device. The final experiment examines the effect of texture adaptation when using the device, and compares it to exploration with a handheld probe and the bare finger. The results show that haptic matrix displays can be used to display graphical information through texture and offer guidelines in the production of such textures.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

May 2011

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