![]() ![]() ![]() Users can also feel the shape with multiple fingers or their whole hand, which enhances the information they can interpret from the display. ![]() In the end, the team produced a system that can rotate a 3D model, zoom in and zoom out on an object, and show it in split sections – such as showing the top and bottom of a cup beside each other. The researchers co-designed this system with people who are blind or visually impaired, a process that was integral to making it address the actual needs of its users. This tactile display is considered 2.5D rather than 3D because the bottom of the display doesn’t change shape. Whenever they alter the shape, they can command the display to render it anew. By inputting the specifications of their desired shape in the accompanying 3D modeling program, users can evaluate their creation via the touchable display. The display is reminiscent of a pin art toy in that it forms shapes from a field of tall, rectangular pegs that move up and down. ![]() “It opens up the possibility of blind people being, not just consumers of the benefits of fabrication technology, but agents in it, creating our own tools from 3D modeling environments that we would want or need – and having some hope of doing it in a timely manner,” he said. Joshua Miele, co-author on the paper, is a blind scientist, designer and educator who helped develop the system while he was associate director of technology research and development at the Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center. Although the display she presented is a prototype, the lab hopes to make a version that is less expensive, larger and able to create shapes in greater detail. 29 at the International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS). This work is part of a larger effort within the lab of Sean Follmer, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, to develop tactile displays – displays that relay information through touch – for various purposes, such as human-computer interaction and new ways of sharing or explaining 3D information. “This project is about empowering a blind user to be able to design and create independently without relying on sighted mediators because that reduces creativity, agency and availability.” “Design tools empower users to create and contribute to society but, with every design choice, they also limit who can and cannot participate,” said Alexa Siu, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at Stanford, who developed, tested and refined the system featured in this research. Even with 3D modeling software that has more accessible ways of inputting designs, they still have to evaluate their work by either creating a physical version they can touch or by listening to a description provided by a sighted person. To make computer-aided design more accessible to people who are blind and visually impaired, Stanford researchers developed a display that can be paired with 3D design software to quickly produce touchable representations of a user’s work-in-progress.Ĭreating a 3D object with computer software is often the first step in producing it physically and can be burdensome for people who are blind or visually impaired. ![]()
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