Tactile
pin array
36 rods for the tactile
array. Only half are in use here. An RC servo motor drives each rod
A board full of P>Q latching comparators generates the PWM signals that determien the angular position of the arm of each RC servo, and thus the height of one pin. Ths board can carry up to 64 comparators
A seperate board decodes a 16-bit binary word output by a computer, interpreting 8 bits as the PWM width desired (0-255), and 6 bits as the comparator address. One bit is used as a strobe.
Each RC servo arm is connected to the end of one tactile rod. Each servo is slightly offset from the ones in front of it so the rods don't overlap.
Click on this image to see a 5 second .mov quicktime movie of the tactile array exhibiting a moving sinusoid.