Experimental Evaluation of a Braille-Reading-Inspired Finger Motion Adaptive Algorithm

PLOS ONE, Dec 2019

Braille reading is a complex process involving intricate finger-motion patterns and finger-rubbing actions across Braille letters for the stimulation of appropriate nerves. Although Braille reading is performed by smoothly moving the finger from left-to-right, research shows that even fluent reading requires right-to-left movements of the finger, known as “reversal”. Reversals are crucial as they not only enhance stimulation of nerves for correctly reading the letters, but they also show one to re-read the letters that were missed in the first pass. Moreover, it is known that reversals can be performed as often as in every sentence and can start at any location in a sentence. Here, we report experimental results on the feasibility of an algorithm that can render a machine to automatically adapt to reversal gestures of one’s finger. Through Braille-reading-analogous tasks, the algorithm is tested with thirty sighted subjects that volunteered in the study. We find that the finger motion adaptive algorithm (FMAA) is useful in achieving cooperation between human finger and the machine. In the presence of FMAA, subjects’ performance metrics associated with the tasks have significantly improved as supported by statistical analysis. In light of these encouraging results, preliminary experiments are carried out with five blind subjects with the aim to put the algorithm to test. Results obtained from carefully designed experiments showed that subjects’ Braille reading accuracy in the presence of FMAA was more favorable then when FMAA was turned off. Utilization of FMAA in future generation Braille reading devices thus holds strong promise.

A PDF file should load here. If you do not see its contents the file may be temporarily unavailable at the journal website or you do not have a PDF plug-in installed and enabled in your browser.

Alternatively, you can download the file locally and open with any standalone PDF reader:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148356&type=printable

Experimental Evaluation of a Braille-Reading-Inspired Finger Motion Adaptive Algorithm

February Experimental Evaluation of a Braille-Reading- Inspired Finger Motion Adaptive Algorithm Melda Ulusoy☯ 0 1 Rifat Sipahi 0 1 0 Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University , Boston, MA , United States of America 1 Editor: Alexander N. Sokolov, Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen Medical School , GERMANY Braille reading is a complex process involving intricate finger-motion patterns and finger-rubbing actions across Braille letters for the stimulation of appropriate nerves. Although Braille reading is performed by smoothly moving the finger from left-to-right, research shows that even fluent reading requires right-to-left movements of the finger, known as “reversal”. Reversals are crucial as they not only enhance stimulation of nerves for correctly reading the letters, but they also show one to re-read the letters that were missed in the first pass. Moreover, it is known that reversals can be performed as often as in every sentence and can start at any location in a sentence. Here, we report experimental results on the feasibility of an algorithm that can render a machine to automatically adapt to reversal gestures of one's finger. Through Braille-reading-analogous tasks, the algorithm is tested with thirty sighted subjects that volunteered in the study. We find that the finger motion adaptive algorithm (FMAA) is useful in achieving cooperation between human finger and the machine. In the presence of FMAA, subjects' performance metrics associated with the tasks have significantly improved as supported by statistical analysis. In light of these encouraging results, preliminary experiments are carried out with five blind subjects with the aim to put the algorithm to test. Results obtained from carefully designed experiments showed that subjects' Braille reading accuracy in the presence of FMAA was more favorable then when FMAA was turned off. Utilization of FMAA in future generation Braille reading devices thus holds strong promise. - OPEN ACCESS Funding: The theme of this paper was inspired by the authors’ previous (now expired) grant under NSF (US) (http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward? AWD_ID=0921360). The work was performed after grant expiration. Competing Interests: In the manuscript, the authors have disclosed that some parts of the work are under intellectual property protection at Northeastern University (INV-16001 Provisional. Inventors: Rifat Sipahi & Melda Ulusoy). This was also disclosed in Introduction Braille literacy is crucial for blind individuals, as it enables life-long learning and is key to employment and independency [ 1 ]. One way to promote Braille literacy is to make existing Braille reading devices more accessible, affordable, and user friendly. Commercially available Braille reading devices in this regard need various improvements [ 2, 3 ]. Most of these devices cost thousands of dollars, mainly because they rely on multiple piezoelectric actuators in order to create the Braille letters [3]. Other issues include high voltage actuation and reduced portability. In order to solve these issues and improve existing Braille displays, various actuation methods such as thermal, electrical, and mechanical, have been widely investigated [ 4–9 ]. the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript. The authors state that this does not alter their adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials without any restrictions. Among existing actuation techniques, electroactive polymer (EAP) materials have recently gained attention on the development of sheet type Braille displays [ 10, 11 ], where tiny actuators are packed in array form to produce refreshable Braille. Although these actuators hold promise for creating full page Braille displays, improvements are needed especially by lowering their voltage requirements, enhancing their bandwidth and increasing generated forces [12]. Other studies aim to reduce the high cost of conventional displays by designing Braille displays comprising a single Braille cell. In [ 13 ], a single cell has been mounted on a movable carriage, where Braille is displayed by a lateral wave of up and down moving pins, but no human subject experiments have been reported. Another study [ 14 ] also uses a single Braille cell, which is placed at the end effector of a planar Pantograph. The user reads a page by moving the single cell over the workspace of the haptic device. However, this task yields lower reading speeds when compared with conventional displays. In a more recent study [ 15 ], authors developed a novel Braille display by stimulating the skin laterally instead of using normal indentation. High legibility rates are reported from experiments with experienced Braille readers. However, numbness was noted in the reading fingers, and this virtual Braille display is reported to be more demanding and error prone when compared to conventional Braille displays. Although a design approach based (...truncated)


This is a preview of a remote PDF: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148356&type=printable

Melda Ulusoy, Rifat Sipahi. Experimental Evaluation of a Braille-Reading-Inspired Finger Motion Adaptive Algorithm, PLOS ONE, 2016, 2, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148356