Canadian researchers developing "touch vision"

From The Star in Toronto, Canada:

Researchers in Montreal have invented a device that tricks your brain into believing that your fingertip is touching a raised surface.

If you are blind, this could be very important news. It means you could "read" detailed maps and diagrams previously inaccessible.

New Scientist magazine twigged to this technological breakthrough after it was described without fanfare at an arcane conference in Halifax this month on computers and accessibility.

A device called a Tactograph employs 64 minute pins – a bit like those used in acupuncture – to stretch or pinch the highly sensitive skin on a fingertip, creating the sensation of texture underneath.

That texture would have been artificially created by digitally scanning images such as maps and then applying the Tactograph software.

A blind person would then slide a one-centimetre-square chip holding those 64 pins across a special platform above the image. As it moved, different electrical voltages would be generated and push the pins to and fro.

One set of vibrations can represent the borders of countries on a map, while others would give each region a different texture, paralleling the colours seen by a sighted person.

Electronic Braille displays already exist, with thicker pins that move
up and down under a finger's downward pressure. But they're no good for detail
because only 16 of those pins can be crammed into a square centimetre.

The lead scientist on the project is Vincent Hayward, a professor of
electrical and computing engineering on leave from McGill University to carry
out research in Paris, France.