Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
42 results found in hardware.
- Head-Mounted Display (HMD) (HMD, Head-Mounted Display, Smart Glasses, AR Glasses)
- A display device worn on the head that places visual content in front of one or both eyes. Head-mounted displays include AR smart glasses (like Vuzix Blade), VR headsets, and mixed reality devices. In…
- Head-mounted display (HMD, Smart glasses, Head-worn display)
- A wearable device that positions a display in front of one or both eyes, either overlaying digital content onto the real world (optical see-through) or replacing the visual field with a camera-capture…
- Human Interface Device (HID, Input Device, Peripheral)
- Any device used to facilitate interaction between a human and a computer, including keyboards, mice, trackballs, joysticks, touchscreens, switches, and eye-tracking systems. The USB HID standard defin…
- Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)
- An electronic sensor module that combines accelerometers and gyroscopes (and sometimes magnetometers) to measure motion, orientation, and gravitational forces. IMUs are embedded in smartphones, smartw…
- Inertial Sensors (IMU, Inertial Measurement Unit)
- Electronic sensors that measure motion and orientation, typically including accelerometers (measuring acceleration/tilt), gyroscopes (measuring rotation), and magnetometers (measuring magnetic field/c…
- Infrared Emitting Diode (IRED, IR LED, Infrared LED)
- A light-emitting diode that produces infrared radiation, used in assistive technology for motion tracking and position sensing. IREDs are commonly used in head-tracking systems, eye-tracking devices, …
- Microsoft Kinect (Kinect, Kinect sensor)
- A motion-sensing device that captures RGB video, depth images, and skeletal tracking data simultaneously. Originally developed for gaming, the Kinect became widely adopted in accessibility research du…
- Omnidirectional Camera (360-Degree Camera, 360 Camera, Panoramic Camera)
- A camera equipped with multiple wide-angle or fish-eye lenses that captures a complete 360-degree view of its surroundings in a single shot. The resulting equirectangular image can be projected into c…
- PHANTOM (PHANTOM Omni, PHANTOM Desktop, SensAble PHANTOM)
- A family of force-feedback haptic devices originally developed by SensAble Technologies (now part of 3D Systems). PHANTOM devices use a pen-like stylus that users grasp while motors apply forces to cr…
- Peltier Module (Peltier Device, Thermoelectric Module, TEC Module)
- A Peltier module is a thermoelectric device that creates a temperature difference when electrical current is applied, with one side heating up and the other cooling down. In assistive technology, flex…
- Pin Array (Pin Matrix, Pin-Matrix Display)
- A grid of individually controllable pins used in refreshable tactile displays to create tactile images and text. Each pin can be raised or lowered electronically, and in some displays raised to multip…
- Refreshable Braille Display (Braille Display, Braille Terminal, Refreshable Tactile Display, RBD)
- An electromechanical device that renders Braille characters by raising and lowering small pins through a flat surface, allowing blind users to read digital text output by touch. These devices connect …
- Shape-changing Interface (Shape-changing haptic interface, Morphing interface)
- A physical interface that conveys information by changing its own shape or physical orientation — for example, a servo-driven lever that rotates to point in a specific direction, a cube whose top half…
- Smart Display (Smart Screen, Voice Assistant Display)
- A voice-controlled device that combines a smart speaker with a built-in touchscreen, enabling multimodal interaction through voice commands, visual output, and touch input. Examples include the Amazon…
- Stylus (Digital Pen, Active Pen)
- A pen-shaped input device used to interact with touchscreens, tablets, and other digitizer surfaces. Unlike finger touch, styluses provide a smaller contact point for precise selection, and active sty…
- Tablet PC (Tablet Computer, Pen Tablet)
- A portable computing device featuring a touchscreen display that can be operated with fingers, a stylus, or both. For accessibility purposes, tablets offer several advantages: adjustable screen angle …
- Touch Sensor (Touch-Sensitive Sensor, Tactile Sensor)
- An electronic component that detects physical contact or proximity of a finger or object on a surface. Touch sensors are used in accessible devices to enable direct tactile interaction, allowing blind…
- Touchscreen (Touch Screen, Touch Display)
- An input and display device that detects touch gestures directly on its surface, allowing users to interact with content by tapping, swiping, pinching, or dragging. While touchscreens enable intuitive…
- Ultrasonic Sensor (Ultrasound Sensor, Proximity Sensor)
- A device that measures distance to objects by emitting high-frequency sound waves and calculating the time it takes for the echo to return. In assistive technology, ultrasonic sensors are commonly use…
- Video Passthrough (Passthrough, Camera Passthrough)
- A feature in VR headsets that uses external cameras to capture the real-world environment and display it on the headset's internal screens, allowing users to see their surroundings without removing th…