The TGD Project Daniel Hajas and David Turner
Jan 21, 2016
The TGD Project
Daniel Hajas and David Turner
What is a Tactile Graphics Display?
• A screen for your fingers!
• Our TGD will use Taxels rather than pixels to represent graphical data physically.
• It will be a new way to interface with Maths and Science.
Why is our project needed?
• Nothing as capable as our project currently exists.
• The only competitor is the ……, which costs around £50,000 per unit!
• Other than that product, the only alternative for the blind are Braille displays.
The Dancing Dots Active Braille Display
What are the benefits?
• Visually impaired people (especially Physicists!) will be able to feel graphs and diagrams.
• They can interact with the world on an entirely new level.
• A whole new set of people will be able to more easily appreciate the beauty and wonder of science
And the benefits for the sighted?
• There are many uses for the sighted.
• 3D representations of maps (representing gradients of slopes etc.)
• Representing 3 dimensional graphs (it can be useful to sighted scientists also!)
How far into the project are we?
• Interface code is written and functional, though more is always being added.
• 3D designs for the hardware have been created.
• A 3D printer is being used to print them.
What tools have we used so far?
• We have used several capable, open source software tools:
1. Python 2.7
2. The Arduino IDE
3. OpenSCAD
4. Subversion
• We have also started to use a MakerBot Replicator 2, to create the hardware.
What does the future hold?
• An 8 by 8 proof of concept will be assembled.
• A research team has been recruited to develop new actuators.
• Lots and lots of funding (hopefully!)
Thank you for listening.
We hope you found it interesting!