A compact sensor system for reading Braille

This paper is concerned with the development of the wearable sensor system for recognizing Braille. We have developed a compact wearable sensor using a Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) film. The sensor output is obtained with the sensor mounted onto a fingertip moving over Braille manually. The operation examination for visually-impaired and healthy subjects who are blindfolded is carried out. From the results, it is clarified that they can´t use the sensor easily. In order to solve this problem, the structure of sensor is improved based on the opinions of the visual impaired persons. Then the operation examination with improved sensor is carried out again. The obtained results show that the improved sensor has the advancement of operability.