Cornell University develops combustable braille

[S Solomon Karuppannan]

Cornell University develops combustable braille
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OCTOBER 8, 2021 5:06 AM

A Cornell University-led collaboration has developed a critical
component for a technology that enables inflatable braille that
changes shape under the user’s touch. It will be like an iPad or
Kindle-like tool for the blind.
For the past 30 years or more, people have been trying to pack
actuators in an array really closely together.
A Cornell-led collaboration created a system that uses combustion to
inflate silicone membrane “dots,” which could someday serve as a
dynamic braille display for electronics. The technology is a haptic
array of densely packed actuators that induces silicone membrane
“dots” to pop up when triggered by combustion.
The study titled “Valveless Microliter Combustion for Densely Packed
Arrays of Powerful Soft Actuators” was published in the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, on September 28th,
2021. The study was led by a doctoral student Ronald Heisser.
What is one of the key challenges in developing a dynamic braille display?
One of the key challenges in developing a dynamic braille display for
electronics is figuring out a technique to apply a sufficient amount
of force for each dot. Earlier works have roped in motors, hydraulics
or tethered pumps, all of which are inconvenient, complicated and
expensive, as noted by Rob Shepherd, an associate professor of
mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and
the senior author of the paper.
Having something that can change its shape in a way you can feel, like
real objects, doesn’t exist right now. There’s this tradeoff between
having small actuators, and size and weight and cost. It’s so
difficult. Everybody’s been trying electromechanical systems. So we
said, well, what if we don’t do that at all and we use combustion.
Small volumes of gas can create powerful outputs.
The Cornell collaboration included technicians from the Israel
Institute of Technology to develop a system mainly comprising molded
silicone and microfluidic liquid metal traces, where liquid metal
electrodes spark to ignite a microscale volume of premixed methane and
oxygen.
Regarding their array design, the fuel flows through a series of
independent channels, in which each channel leads to a 3-mm-wide
actuator. A thin silicone membrane is forced to inflate several
millimeters by the rapid combustion at each region. A magnetic
latching system provides a persistent form to these dots and the
entire system can be reset by simply pressing them down.
With no requirement for electromagnetic valves, the actuators can be
packed densely, leading to a smaller, potentially portable system with
the potential to make large displacements at high force within 1 ms.
The commercial version can be safely operated due to the quick cooling
capability of the fluidic elastomer actuators and the consumption of
minimal fuel.
Are there other applications for this technology?
The technology is also stretchable and comfortable, and the
researchers expect integration into a series of applications like soft
robots and wearable reality devices that simulate artificial touch.
The biocompatible components also find application in surgical tools
that manipulate tissues or open blocked passageways in medical
patients.
The existing system comprises nine fluidic elastomers, but the
researchers believe they can scale up and make a completely electronic
tactile display.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force
Office of Scientific Research, and the Sloan Foundation. Most of the
components were fabricated by the team at the Laboratory of Atomic and
Solid State Physics (LASSP) Professional Machine Shop.

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With warm regards
Solomon S
teac...@gmail.com