Descripción del proyecto
Un accionador novedoso para las pantallas táctiles gráficas de gran escala
La Organización Mundial de la Salud calcula que hay unos 300 millones de personas con discapacidad visual en todo el mundo. Sin embargo, los avances de los últimos decenios se han limitado a pantallas táctiles que permiten traducir textos y gráficos en píxeles táctiles. Este proyecto ERC Consolidator tiene como objetivo mejorar el avance de la tecnología de matrices microaccionadoras con un concepto radicalmente nuevo denominado «Capillary Lock Actuator» (CaLA). CaLA supondrá un adelanto significativo en este ámbito, ya que permitirá una amplia gama de aplicaciones en la tecnología de microsistemas. Y, lo que es más importante, supondrá un salto cualitativo para que la tecnología de la información sea inclusiva para todas las personas con discapacidad visual proporcionando una solución rentable a las pantallas táctiles de gran escala.
Objetivo
According to the World Health Organization more than 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired. In a world where graphics and online content (images, webpages) become increasingly important the inability to perceive information visually is the primary inhibitor for inclusion. In contrast to display technology for sighted people, tactile displays which translate text and graphics to touchable pixels (taxels) have seen little progress in recent decades. So-called Braille lines which display only a single line of text are still the norm. The reason why graphical tactile displays do not exist is the lack of a suitable actuator technology which allows generating massively parallelized individually addressable cost-effective taxel arrays.
This ERC Consolidator project aims at a revolution in microactuator array technology with a fundamentally new concept termed the Capillary Lock Actuator (CaLA). CaLA is a novel bistable massively parallelizable microfluidic microactuator which overcomes many of the limitations currently associated with microactuators. It can be operated with low-voltage control signals and requires virtually no power for actuation. CaLA harnesses three concepts inherent to microfluidics: positive capillary pressure, segmented flow and controllable locally confined changes in wetting. The project will use CaLA actuator arrays for setting up the very first portable tactile graphic display with 30.000 individually addressable taxels thereby significantly outperforming the state-of-the-art. It will be based on manufacturing techniques for highly complex microstructures in glass invented by my group.
CaLA will be a significant breakthrough in actuator technology and enabling for many applications in microsystem technology. Most importantly, it will be a significant step towards making the information technology inclusive for the visually impaired by providing the first robust cost-effective solution to large-scale tactile displays.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitución de acogida
79098 Freiburg
Alemania