Communications of the ACM
Reprogrammable Braille
Researchers at Harvard University's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a framework to encode memory onto a blank, lattice-free material.
Credit: L. Mahadevan/Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Researchers at Harvard University's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a framework to encode memory—in the form of Braille-like dimples and bumps—onto a blank, lattice-free material.
The framework demonstrates how an otherwise featureless curved elastic shell can store elastic bits (e-bits) that can be written and erased at will anywhere along the shell.
The thin elastic shell is initially compressed by force on each end, and then indents are made using a simple stylus, similar to the way that pages of a traditional Braille book are printed. The shell will "remember" the indent when the force is no longer applied and the indent can be erased by stretching the shell back out.
This marks the first time researchers have demonstrated mechanical memory in a system with no inherent lattice.
From Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2018 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found