Browsing by Author "Avizzano, C. A."
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Item Computer graphics access for blind people through a haptic and audio virtual environment(2004) Iglesias, R.; Casado, S.; Gutiérrez, T.; Barbero, J. I.; Avizzano, C. A.; Marcheschi, S.; Bergamasco, M.; PROMETAL; CIRMETALThis paper describes a new Haptic & Audio Virtual Environment to allow visually impaired people to have access to the three-dimensional graphic computer world through the sense of touch (using a new dual-finger haptic interface) and augmented by audio output and voice commands. Such system has been developed within the European project "GRAB". The new system provides an integrated platform for the design and development of audio-haptic applications in different fields (architecture, art, aeronautics, medicine,..). In order to demonstrate the validity of the approach, the project was specifically focused on the development of three applications for visual impaired people: an adventure game, a city map explorer and a chart explorer. Both the new environment and the applications were tested by visually impaired people with different profiles (congenitally blind, advantageously blind, partially sighted,..) to evaluate the usefulness and potential of these developments. The results of this validation confirm the validity of the system. Overall, it seems the GRAB system is feasible for these kinds of applications, although some features require some adjustments to create future usable tools.Item A multi-finger haptic interface for visually impaired people(2003) Avizzano, C. A.; Marcheschi, S.; Angerilli, M.; Fontana, M.; Bergamasco, M.; Gutierrez, T.; Mannegeis, M.; CIRMETALThe present paper deals with a novel type of dual point haptic system. The system exploits a novel kind of kinematics to achieve a high isotropy which improves the force rendering. Other features of the system are its high stiffness, high peak forces together with a zero backlash cable based transmission. The device can be used by means of a set of sizeable thimbles by any pairs of user's fingertips. Such a device has been developed within the EU GRAB project, for testing a novel set of application with blind users. Such a project investigates to which extent a purely haptic environment can be employed from users with visual impairments in terms of: the effective capabilities of the device to exchange high level information with the users; the real degree of interaction which can be achieved in this type of system; the effective opportunity for the user to profit from the system using just this type of interaction. The basic system concepts, the application environment and the system performances are given in the following.