A tactile-thermal display for haptic exploration of virtual paintings

To enable individuals who are blind and visually impaired to participate fully in the world around them, it is important to make all environments accessible to them. This includes art museums which provide opportunities for cultural education and personal interest/enjoyment. Our interest focuses on the portrayal of paintings through refreshable haptic displays from their digital representations. As a complement to representing the structural elements (i.e., objects and shapes) in a painting, we believe it is also important to provide a personal experience of the style and expressiveness of the artist. This paper proposes a haptic display and display methods to do so. The haptic display consists of: (1) a pin matrix display to the fingers to relay tactile texture information about brushstroke, (2) a thermal display on which the warm-cold spectrum of colors is mapped, and (3) the sensing of location within the painting used to change tactile and thermal feedback to create contrasts within a painting.