[optacon-l] Re: Optacon research and development
- From: "Nick Dotson" <nickdotson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 04:55:05 -0600
Well thought and articulated.
He didn't say the display was comprised of U-shaped troughs like that of the
Optacon. It might be flat. but as this is a device in development, I
expect a certain amount of reticence on Dr. Teller and his team's part.
I too am concerned about the bezels, emitted lighting, and size and angles
of the displays of consumer electronics. Also about the necessity for
either the device to use auto-focus, and ambient light adjustment, or burden
the blind user with those tasks if a digital camera is being used, as well
as the steadiness of hand, as contrasted with the kind of on-surface
scanning of the Optacon's camera.
I too would be glad to be contacted off-list...
W. Nick Dotson
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of David
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 1:48 AM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Carol Livermore; Luis Fernando Velasquez-Garcia
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Optacon research and development
AAH! Now we at least see things moving, out of the writing and chatting, and
into some real attempt. Great information. Yet, it immediately raises a few
questions in my mind, and more are likely to come. If you want to contact me
off-list, you are welcome to do so, for further in-depth discussions. Still,
let me put my questions on the board, in case that will call for other
users' participation.
First of all, I want to congratulate you on taking on your shoulders such a
tremmendous project. And, I really would have loved to have a chance on
getting my hands on your project. Unfortunately I am living in Europe, so
let's leave the dreams behind. Smile.
From what I get, and please correct me in case I misunderstood certain parts
of your descriptions, the unit you are developing will be a product that
kind of tries to sum up several user preferences. You are trying to make a
product - or have already done so - that both can be run in a strict "give
me the tactiles" mode, and an interpretted mode, where things get transfered
into ordinary Braille. At top of that, it seems you are trying to make it
recognize shapes on a distance, like people moving, their face lines and so
forth. I follow all your ideas, and each on its own, is a great one. Yet, I
am a little uncertain, as to whether I want one and same unit perform my
book reading, and help me recognize my friend's grandmother by her face. My
big fear of it, is that you will have to make too many compromises. For a
face recognition, you need a bigger display, but with not all that high
resolution. For a printed page, or even to be able to recognize shapes and
drawings (like in a diagram for how to put together your new bookshelf), the
things get turned the other way around. We now will need a higher
resolution, but will maybe be better offf with a smaller physical area of
displaying. One thing is to recognize printed letters, as the main shape
might be well enough. But what about following rather thin, and sometimes
broken lines, on a diagram or a form. Recently, we had a discussion on this
list, as to how to find the signature line on a form. With only one "pixel"
or tactile representation for each millimeter, I have a slight feeling such
detection could be rather hard. OK, a lot might be accomplished by adjusting
the contrast, intensity or whatever other adjustments your product offers.
Yet, one of the big advantages of the Optacon's small-sized, high-resolution
display, is that it is fairly easy to detect even minor details on a page.
At least, to a certain degree. And this is where I see your first
compromise. How detailed a picture do we need to tactilize? Some more
specifics on the matter, would have helped me in giving further feedback on
this point.
The second thing, on which your mail was rather vague, is: Exactly how big
is the displaying array of your unit? You do state, that I will need to use
more than one finger, to cover the whole display. In what way? Do my two,
three or four fingers - all rest staticly on the display? Or, do I have to
constantly move my fingers over something like a square or rectangular
displaying area? My immediate thought is, that if I have to move the camera
with one hand, and perform another kind of movement with my other hand - so
as to cover the displaying array - I know at least my capabilities when
comes to coordination well enough, that this would not work very smoothly.
And if I have a somehow limited resolution, and have to "go hunting" for a
smaller detail on a too big display, I don't really know how effectively I
could be operating. So, could you please be a bit more specific to the exact
shape and operation of the displaying area.
Still hanging on to the display, I have one more question. Whether we like
to face it or not, we do ever so often run into unforeseen happenings. All
the certain, I am cutting some food in my kitchen, and get a cut in my index
finger (which is the one I use for my Optacon). On goes the bandage, and
away goes my sensitivity for a couple of days; when comes to operating the
Optacon. That is, specially with the second generation of the Optacon, you
can always use one of your other fingers on the display. Even when reading
bigger amounts of text, my index finger gets weary from all the reading, and
I would quickly move my next finger onto the display, giving my index finger
a bit of a rest. Now, if I am supposed to use more than one finger on your
unit, exactly how vulnerable will I be, when circumstances makes one of my
fingers missing? Add on to this, that there is people who has lost certain
fingers, or have reduced sensitivity in some fingers. Immediately, I think
this way: the more fingers you rely on to get the full picture, the more
limited will be the usage. Either on a temporary scale - when you get one of
your fingers wrapped up in a bandage; or, on a more permanent basis - like
when people loose their sensitivity in a finger or two, in an accident. This
might greatly reduce the market's interest for the final product. It is a
well-known fact, among Braille readers, that one or two fingers grow the
main sensors. For some people, it even will greatly differ from the one hand
to the other. To what degree has such factors been taken into consideration
in your project? Can the unit, for one thing, be operated with either hand?
And, if I move it from my left to my right hand, will this affect the way I
get the stuff presented? OK, what did I mean with my last question?
If I presume, that your unit requires me to make use of my three first
fingers - Index, Middle- and Ring finger - and we imagine I see a certain
shape represented under these three fingers, that is well enough. If this is
done with my left hand, I can snuggly fit my three fingers onto the display.
But if I now move it over to my right hand, the part of the display that
formerly was covered by my index finger, will now sit under my ring finger.
Is there any ergonomic design on the display that will make my fingers not
fit the same snugly onto the displaying area, when moving from one hand to
the other? Just put your hands on the table, all flat, and compare them. You
will see, they do have a slight difference from one finger to the other. If
I imagine a set of three of the Optacon's displays put together in a certain
set up, I am not sure the same setup would fit equally on both hands. So,
without you describing the displaying area of your unit more detailed, I am
left wondering how well it goes with user preferences for operation. Again,
would be nice with more info on the matter.
What is the physical size and weight on the unit, and its camera? OK, I do
realize, you are on a developing state, but what is the current size? Or the
size you aim for? I am not asking general terms here - like "it will be in a
portable size". A Laptop, is portable. So is a cell phone. But there is a
great difference in HOWE portable they are, and for what activities I would
like to have the hazzle of bringing the one or the other. Noone wants to go
do their grocery shopping, dragging around with a laptop; but most of us
will be fine with our cell phone in our pocket. So what is the estimated
size, aimed for battery life, and maybe a word or two on the actual shape of
the unit - that you are going for?
You mentioned that your unit will be able to read CRTs, if I got you right.
I guess, that includes the screen of a laptop. But how about displays on
other equipments. For instance, will I be able to successfully read the time
off a digital watch? Reading the display of my microwave oven? Or, read the
text message in my cell phone display? OK, maybe none of these are all that
realistic cases of daily usage, but I actually have been in the need of
using my Optacon for things like that, in several situations. Unfortunately,
the Optacon does not handle either of these cases very well - at least with
the standard lense. So how well does your unit work with displays of
different size, shape and technical quality?
One of the drawbacks of the Optacon camera, has always been its lack of
angling capabilities. If, for instance, I am to explore the buttons on my
new stereo system, my new microwave, or my laundry machine - I am often out
of luck. The print might be clear enough, but it often sits that close to
the buttons or edges of the qppliance, that the camera cannot be move
directly across the printed surface. You then are left to move the camera on
a few millimeters distance from the surface, and the light conditions get
too bad for real recognition. In what way will your camera handle this kind
of cases?
On the Optacon, you ever so often would have to change the lense. Most users
would be familiar with two of them, the standard lense, and the magnified
lense. In addition, there was the lense for typewriters, and I believe in
the later days, they came around with a lense designed for reading computer
screens. Will your unit be in need of frequent camera change, or is your
camera well enough equipped, that it will be a matter of user settings, to
read under different conditions?
As I said in my introduction, there will be more questions. They are all
based on extensive experience with the advantages and lackings of both the
first and second generation of the Optacon, as well as experience with other
reading and "visualizing" equipment for the blind - all through the last 3
or 4 decades. If you are interested, be kind to contact me off-list at:
trailerdavid@xxxxxxxxxxx
Yet, I do hold, the above questions are of such general characteristics,
that it would be great to see them answered on the list. Please be aware, I
have not put any of those questions on the board so as to discourage your
efforts, but merely wanted to point out technical and operational pitfalls,
that so often are being overlooked when this kind of equipment is being
developed. Thanks for your consideration.
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