TACTILE GRAPHICS PRINTER PRESS RELEASE

From: Robert Jaquiss (robertj@teleport.com)
Date: Tue Jul 14 1998 - 00:38:59 EEST


INTERNATIONAL BRAILLE RESEARCH CENTER, INC.
4424 BROOKHAVEN AVENUE
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY 40220
Phone: (502) 458-7157
Email: tvc@iglou.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: T. V. Cranmer
July 10, 1998 (410)728-8823

Dallas -Here to attend the annual convention of the National
Federation of the Blind, Dr. Tim "T.V." Cranmer, President of the
International Braille Research Center, today announced receipt of
a grant award of $375,000 to the IBRC from the U.S. Department of
Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
Research under the Field-Initiated Research Program (NIDRR grant
H133G80103).

     The program, which officially begins July 1, will provide
commercial transfer and availability of the device after
development. The Tactile Image Printer will have the capacity to
translate graphic visual material, such as maps and diagrams, to a
dimensional format which can be perceived by touch. The new
technology is expected to lead to many more in-depth development
efforts aimed at making visual aspects of the world accessible to
the blind.

     "Ever since the first typewriter was built by Pellegrino Turi
in 1808 to enable his blind friend, Countess Carolina Fantoni da
Fivizzono, to write legibly, it's been two steps forward, one step
back, with regard to access to printed materials by people who are
blind or partially sighted," said Dr. Cranmer, an inventor
recently referred to as "the Thomas Edison of the blind" by Leslie
Stahl on the television program Sixty Minutes.,

     Dr. Cranmer, who will serve as the principal investigator for
this grant-funded project explains: "The need for a practical
method of producing tactile graphics is well-known and has
attracted the attention of researchers world-wide. In Britain,
Germany, and Australia, research and development efforts have
presented various approaches to this problem since 1991. The only
method proven effective for direct, immediate representation of
graphical information - raised line graphics - is not supported by
existing technologies.

     While printers designed to produce visual images abound - in
schools, industry, and commerce - there does not now exist an
analogous machine for creating images for presentation through the
sense of touch. The primary goal of this project is to produce a
machine with this capability -- the tactile image printer."

# # #

The International Braille Research Center is a non-profit
organization committed to the goal of assuring the quantity and
quality of instruction that will lead to Braille literacy for all
blind persons.

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/



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