%P 156-166
%T PRET Printer: Development and Evaluation of a Passive Refreshable Tactile Printer
%O © The Authors 2024. Original content in this paper is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
%D 2024
%L discovery10197641
%I ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)
%J Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies
%B Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies
%X While audio-based interfaces make information accessible to people with visual impairments, some information, such as diagrams, graphs, and charts, can be better interpreted tactilely. We introduce a new Passive Refreshable Tactile (PRET) Printer concept. Using off-the-shelf components of a laser engraver and the nascent Tacilia technology, the prototype enables the creation of refreshable tactile graphics. By leveraging Pixel Art as a rendering process, we enhance the diversity of image production on this medium. We contribute technical specifications, open-source files to make the PRET printer and a qualitative evaluation of the concept by tactile learners. The prototype facilitates rapid and cost-effective development of refreshable tactile media, crucial for improving comprehension. The work builds upon existing research, furthering the groundwork to address the needs of tactile learners worldwide and establishing a foundation for further innovation and development in this domain.
%A Tigmanshu Bhatnagar
%A Catherine Holloway
%K Tactile Display, Tactile Graphics, Laser, Shape Memory Materials