Charles, good thing you mentioned me in the headline otherwise I might not have
noticed you were addressing me.
About CAPTCHAs, make no mistake, they can be ridiculously hard for sighted
people too, I'm quite impressed some of you can make sense of them with an
optacon.
About packing the actuators, you mention a simple solution for higher density
in your post which you say works best, that is stacking/staggering, so why not
just use that? The simplest solutions are often the best and at some point it
just becomes easier to use stacking/staggering than to pack actuators closer
together. I don't like the more complex assembly and wire routing but that's
the choice you'll have to make.
About an optacon demo, I have used a neighbour's optacon before, wouldn't mind
having one here right now for tests and measurements but can manage without.
I still can't make full sense of the actuator descriptions, it sometimes seems
to defy basic physics the way you describe it, but it seems quite smart indeed.
Are you sure you wish to pack the magnets that close? Assembly cost for the
array is going to be crucial, I think low cost development and cost-effective
low volume manufacturing are key issues here. That's why I'm limiting the
design to 'just' optacon density: to keep it all relatively simple and
affordable.
About promising research in this field: have been reading about it for about 30
years now, and it's still just promises. I'm tired of that. The way we do it
now with electromagnets may be a sort of 'steampunk' approach but if it works,
who cares? I actually kind of like that.
On the blog I will put up pictures of the frames I'm working on, first 3D
designs and later the manufactured ones. Will be happy to provide processed
images too, with edge enhancements so they may be easier to make sense of with
an optacon (or when printed with tactile/embossing graphics), if anybody here
cares.
- Reinoud
On 09/05/15 04:09, C. Pond wrote:
Yes, Judy. Some of these characters resemble no familiar alphanumeric I'veto view the list archives, go to:
ever seen. A number sign with its bottom right vertical line curled toward
the left rather than simply going down straight. Now what was that all
about? I couldn't find an equivalent for it on the keyboard.
I'd be interested to know the coding used to creat these capture characters:
bitmap, icon, likely not unicode. Albeit small enough compared to other
larger optacon considerations, it might help us to use the new optacon to
more clearly identify these increasingly common characters.
I'm not too worried about the optacon's new display and its electronics.
In addition, I have crafted a way to seal both the tactuators and the
all-important finger plate (no, not a fine lint-free linen on top of the
finger plate). The surfactin or adhestive layer is still of some concern,
but this will be settled. I am also zeroing in on the best material for use
of the finger plate and the frame to best fulfill the display's structural
needs. The materials has at least 10 needed characteristics, but
mechanical/materials science is onto that. LIkely a dense polymere, a
specific grade of staineless steel or even possibly re-enforced grepheen
with nanocarbon tubing. I amore concerned about the image processing and
the user end with its
features. I need a programmer here. It sounds like Reinoud has at least
some of the programming addressed in principle, and fine tuning and
significant feature expanding is now required for it. My programming
experience--such as it is--is confined mostly to simpler tasks in C++ and
also some digital signal processing using VHDL, and electronics drafting
programs like OrCAD. We did controllers, the MC series and others, but with
a good grasp of programming and knowledge of the processors' architecture
one can do just fine. Except me that is, haha. WE also did massive gate
arrays for what were then EPLDs which lead to subsequent field programmable
logic devices which made EPROMs and EPLDs obsolete.
In addition, I've been having trouble reducing the diameter of these tiny
tactuators to les than 0.053inch. There are strategies to pack the
actuators closer and closer together by degree which is fine, but some work
better than others. The ones for packing the tactuators the closest
together produce lesser results than simply stacking and staggering these
tiny capsules in a straight up and down matrix with no inefficient splaying.
So, the closer packing solutions yield inferior vibro-tactile results than
do merely stacking and staggering them. Even by stacking and staggering the
tactuators, I can get over 36 * 36 (if one needs 36 wide), but I wouldd like
to
do better than 36 vertically aligned.
Any sensible thoughts on packing these tactuators closer together without
causing compromise would be appreciated if there are still any techies still
on the list: Dave Godfrey, Nigel in Australia, Richard Oehm in California,
Seth in New York, Reinoud in north England, Leo Drell, etc. By the way,
Reinoud, you might pop over to merry old London where Dave Godfrey is, and
if he has some time and is available perhaps he can give yoo a good realtime
demo of the optacon R1D and the model II and their differences both good and
less good, and perhaps show you some schematics. Even though modern designs
are nothing like the R1D, the are worth at least a look-at, I suppose it is
about a 5 hour drive from around Yorkshire to London, like from Ottawa to
Toronto. Do Not under-estimate the usefulness of a good optacon
demonstration Also, anything less than about 250Hz will compromise reading
speed. The letters can pass beneath the finger tip no faster than the
refresh rate of the optacon's display, albeit many factors come into play
concerning reading speed. The refresh rate of the display is one of the
most important, even more so than the learned rate of reading. to
illustrate just this one point on refresh rates: to a certain point (20
frames per second and up to 30 is better), the scenes in a movie can slide
by no faster than the screen's refresh rate. So it is for the optacon
display.
Also, Reinoud, I am interested if and how you have reduced the diameter of
the tactile actuators to less-than 0.052-inch, albeit this diameter is more
than sufficient. I use two 1/32-inch neodymium rod magnets here enclosed in
a sealed stainless steel capsule of 300 series since this grade of stainless
steel is non-ferromagnetic, and also the B of its B/H magnetic curve
increases within a magnetic field provided by the two very fine resonating
coils and the two rod magnets, and so overall the flux density and intensity
does increase. The
upper rod magnet moves between these two resonating coils, and the range of
resonance is easily from 200 to 300Hz with no loss of power throughout the
range. A stationary rod "power magnet" is placed just below this "moving
magnet", and it injects a high amount of flux energy into the magnetic
circuit such that the air gap is completely
saturated at the resonant range: the two finely wound coils of about 80
ampere/turns each, the two tiny rod magnets, and the force from the
increased B of the B/H curve. The force in Neutons produced by the "moving
magnet" is far in excess of what is required for an actuator, let alone a
densely packed matrix of several hundred of them. So, the
thickness/diameter is almost as fine as I can craft it from here, so now the
challenge is packing these tiny tactuators as close together as possible.
Placing the tactile pin of one right next to the magnet of another inside
its capsule and magnetic field (since the pins are non-ferromagnetic) does
not disturb them, ; however, they are affected by the Moving Magnet in such
close proximity to the tactile pin or bristle or reed. Stacking and
staggering works just fine, but I have an inner gut sense that I can do
better. So, until a final solid state tactile solution comes along, and
their research sounds promising but seems to be going slowly quickly unless
I am in the dark in more ways than one. So, any thoughts?
Charles
-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Jones
Sent: Friday, May 08, 2015 9:52 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: another use for the optacon
I have also been able to read captschas with the optacon, but not all, as
some are very shaded characters. Some are also written in funny squiggly
curlicue letters.
----- Original Message -----
From: C. Pond <cpond@xxxxxxxxx>
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC:
Date: Thursday, May 7, 2015 5:15 pm
Subject: [optacon-l] another use for the optacon
When filling out a response to send to a company via their websiete, I had
to type in what I think is called a capture code, or some such thing. It
is the pattern of letters and numbers which are not spoken by a
screenreader, but which ensure the sender of the web-based e-mail is human
and not automated. I could easily read the code with me optacon, and type
in the code to validate the e-mail. I wasnthé™ment sure that my message
of dismay and annoyance over their website and poor company customer
service got through (well, they did want feedback after all), until I
received a personal reply from their customer service.
Long live the optacon!
Charles
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(Sent From My Braille U2 Mini)
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