11/25/2005

My friend Mulboyne gave me a heads-up on this Japanese article on new e-braille kind of electronic paper. It turns out that the 3Yen has covered this reasearch before in a different application: “Robot Hand Job Done by University of Tokyo”.

A rough translation of Asahi.com, Nov 25, 2005 says: Professor Takao Someya and his team at the Organic Transistor Lab of Tokyo University has succeeded in creating an electronic Braille display that is only approximately 1 millimeter thick. Its simple device that even bends. The prototype, displays 24 letters qhich can be refreshed with new text in approximately one second making reading easy for visual handicapped persons. A plastic sheet or card displays Braille lettering by creating arrays of bumps on its rubber-like surface.

Visit the website of Takao Someya Group–Organic Transistor Lab to read their research report “”Flexible, Lightweight Braille Sheet Display with Plastic Actuators Driven by An Organic Field-Effect Transistor Active Matrix.”