Braille Internet Pages for the Blind

Those who are visually-impaired may now be able to surf the Internet just like normal seeing people with a new technology based on the one-liner Braille system used to translate text from the computer into raised Braille dots. Lead inventor Dr. Peichun Yang is perfecting the system at the Carolina State University. He says the while the current one line refreshable Braille device (left) is already useful, improving it and enabling it to display a whole page brings in another world from the Internet to blind people.

Yang, who is blind himself, said the new Braille technology will allow whole pages of from the Internet to be displayed using raised dots to form text and even images. The system is fast and can refresh in just milliseconds. It's able to be so fast because it uses a hydraulic and latching mechanism combined. This is what raises the thousands of dots which serve as the "pixels" of the display. In a way, they create a form of bas relief to represent visual images that can be touched by the visually-impaired.

Each dot (represented above in the graphics) is like a small bag than can shift its shape. Each bag is filled with a liquid. With the application of an electric current, each bag is compressed and the liquid inside is pushed up, creating a bump that "registers" as a pixel or dot. The technology has been used before but it had limitations. The problem that Yang solved involved creating a "latch" for the raised container which kept it in place as the blind reader moves his or her fingers over them and until the pressure needs to be released. The tiny mechanism has a pin that is connected to a support block. The pin keeps the dot raised until the page is refreshed.

Yang hopes to the the technology out for the blind to use soon but it may be best to have materials that will last long enough for the device to be used for a long time until breaking down from too much touching. This is a common problem with polymer-based materials. Yang and colleagues presented the new technology at the International Conference on Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices in San Diego, California.

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How Nuclear Power Can Provide Electrical Energy for Micro Devices

When you hear of the word "nuclear," you immediately think about huge explosions, mushroom clouds, and deadly radiation. That's true and that's the bad side of nuclear, or atomic, energy. But if you look at the bright side, it is a major source of much of the developed world's electricity. That's coming from nuclear power plants. But did you know that nuclear energy is also now powering devices that are microscopic in size? With this technology, it's now possible to make utility devices that run for 25 years or so without the need for the batteries to be changed.

The nuclear energy is courtesy of betavoltaics technology. Basically, betavoltaics are batteries that harvest energy from radioactive substances, like tritium or Promethium-147. They sound nasty, but in betavoltaics, the radiation levels are so low they only provide nanowatts of lectricity. If you can't imagive that, try a billionth of a watt. A watt, of course is a unit of power. Ever seen a seven watt bulb glow? If you can imagine that, then you can imagine the glow that one watt can give. Divide that by a billion and you now have an idea how much energy a betavoltaics battery can give.

So, if betavoltaics can only deliver such low energy, what is it good for? Widetronix is a company that is pioneering betavoltaics technology. It is reaserching on stacking betavoltaic to compound the electricity output and provide enough power to enable Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices like implants that can monitor a person's health or track a military aircraft. Theoretically, these stacked betavoltaic chips can give up to one microwatt of power - that's a millionth of a watt. It's still low, but it's actually already a big improvement from a billionth of a watt.

For now, experiments with betavoltaics are ongoing on tamper-proof electronics of military gadgets developed by Lockheed Martin. If you can't tinker with them, with a screwdriver, they can't be sabotaged, unless the whole thing is yanked out - but then that would disable the device. Commercial applications are set for release in 2011. These will likely be components to larger devices for communications. Consumers won't even know they're there.

Click on the images to visit the Widetronix site.

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