A Concept For Re-Useable Interactive Tactile Reliefs

We introduce a concept for a relief-printer, a novel production method for tactile reliefs, that allows to reproduce bas-reliefs of several centimeters height difference. In contrast to available methods, this printer will have a much smaller preparation time, and does not consume material nor produce waste, since it is based on a re-usable medium, suitable for temporary printouts. Second, we sketch a concept for the autonomous, interactive exploration of tactile reliefs, in the form of a gesture-controlled audio guide, based on recent depth cameras. Especially the combination of both approaches promises rapid tactile accessibility to 2.5D spatial information in a home or education setting, to on-line resources, or as a kiosk installation in museums.