Leveraging the Snap Buckling of Bistable Magnetic Shells to Design a Refreshable Braille Dot

A design concept is proposed for the building block, a dot, of programmable braille readers utilizing bistable shell buckling, magnetic actuation, and pneumatic loading. The design process is guided by Finite Element simulations, which are initially validated through precision experiments conducted on a scaled-up, single-shell model system. Then, the simulations are leveraged to systematically explore the design space, adhering to the standardized geometric and physical specifications of braille systems. The findings demonstrate the feasibility of selecting design parameters that satisfy both geometric requirements and blocking forces under moderate magnetic fields, facilitated by pneumatic loading to switch between the two stable states. While the study is focused on experimentally validated numerical simulations, it is also identify several manufacturing challenges that need to be resolved for future physical implementations .|A braille reader design based on the bistability of shells made of a magneto-elastic material is introduced. The design meets the standardized specifications for realistic braille systems. The system operates in two phases: reprogrammable writing and reading. The main trade-offs of the design parameters are quantified using Finite Element simulations.image