Tacmon2 Project
There are 7.4 million visually impaired people in the European Union. High unemployment amongst the visually impaired is a serious social and economic problem for the EU. There is a need for effective technology to facilitate employment of the visually impaired and for industry to be better able to meet anti-discrimination legislation, as well as to avoid the increasing exclusion from the visual/ graphical oriented forms of information and communication technologies. The aim of TACMON2 is to develop an innovative technology for the low-cost realization of a large area Interactive Graphical Tactile Display as a computer peripheral for visually impaired people, providing them a new dimension of access to graphical oriented electronic information and to a wider range of PC applications. The planned Graphical Tactile Display will consist of a fine matrix of tactile (haptic) pins accessible via the sense of touch, and thus also for visually impaired people. Cost reduction is achieved with the application of technologies, which allow the batch production of the actuator matrix on the display surface without the need for individual assembly of actuators for each tactile dot. The innovation: the TACMON2 technology is innovative in the combination of the applied technologies realizing an electrostatic pneumatic hybrid actuator system. A proof of concept has been successfully demonstrated based on silicon MEMS technology. The aim of the current project is a significant cost reduction by transferring the proven concept from silicon base to LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics) based technology, as well as by developing a compact and integrated electronics and pneumatic support system.
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom