A team at Purdue University in Indiana has developed a haptic device that lets blind people feel images generated by a microscope. It has always been a huge undertaking to help the blind understand microscopic images. Sometimes, a sighted person just must describe it, which is problematic sense each description differs, and the blind person can’t always understand the description. Also, tactile images can be created and labelled in braille, but this is labor intensive and requires a sighted individual with the knowledge, time, and skill to do it.
This new device is a haptic feedback joystick that plugs into a computer that also has a microscope connected to it. It has been tested on red and white blood cells. The blind person navigates the cell with the joystick, and receives a pushback when encountering a cell wall, and different vibrations when hovering over different textured objects.
So far, tests have indicated that a blind person can identify the difference between a white and red blood cell more accurately using this device than by means of other methods.
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