System Development of Transformable Tactile Tools on VR for Blind Children

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K02929
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 09060:Special needs education-related
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Asakawa Naoki 金沢大学, 設計製造技術研究所, 教授 (50231874)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 和田 紘樹 金城大学短期大学部, 美術学科, 講師 (00450007) ; 下村 有子 金沢大学, 設計製造技術研究所, 研究協力員 (70171006)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 視覚障害者 / Virtual Reality / 触覚

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we used VR (Virtual Reality) technology to build a system that teaches the movements and changes of creatures for blind children. The purpose was to construct a system that can dynamically recognize morphological changes only by touch for the education. The elements of "tactile presentation" and "tracking" are necessary as components for the purpose, and including their realization, (1) Development of tactile presentation interface (2) Establishment of portable tracking method (3) Dynamic shape modeling.
The effectiveness was confirmed by prototyping the system based on the above factors and actually testing it.

Free Research Field

機械工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

盲児は生き物の大きさや形は静的には模型を製作し触ることができるが、成長による生き物の形態変化の学習は難しい．動的に形状や大きさが変化する模型を個々に作成するのは、時間的にもコスト的にも現実的とは言えなかった．
本研究ではVR技術を触覚に応用して生き物の動きや変化を触覚で教えるシステムを構築し、触覚のみで動的に形態変化の認識を行えるシステムの基礎を構築することができた．