Braille Maps for Blind and Visually Impaired Created with 3-D Printing
Technology at Rutgers
Rutgers University, February 26, 2016
By Todd B. Bates
Using a high-tech 3-D printer, a Rutgers undergraduate and his professor
created sophisticated braille maps to help blind and visually impaired people
navigate a local training center.
The three plastic tactile maps are for each floor at the Joseph Kohn Training
Center, a state-funded facility for the blind and visually impaired in New
Brunswick. And the goal is to print maps for all of the center’s students.
“It was a very fulfilling experience,” said Jason Kim, 25, a senior mechanical
engineering student in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
in Rutgers’ School of Engineering. “I learned a lot. The most difficult part
was trying to imagine what it would be like to be blind myself so I could
better tackle the problem, and it opened my eyes to the whole visually impaired
and blind community.”
Howon Lee, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering whose research focuses on 3-D printing, said the maps are a form of
GPS for the blind and visually impaired.
“Design, using this technology, practicing everything is important but I think
what is more important is to put yourself in their shoes,” Lee said.
Joseph Kohn Training Center staffers lauded the durable maps, saying they would
be very helpful for center students. The center has clunky, old wooden maps
with a few braille labels on walls.
Professor Lee said he got the idea of making 3-D maps after visiting the Korea
Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea. The institute created
educational materials for small children with a 3-D printer, and he was
impressed.
A 3-D printer very similar to an inkjet printer uses computer-aided design
software. The technology was developed in the 1980s, but advancements have
accelerated in the last five years, Lee said.
“Instead of printing letters on top of a 2-diminensional sheet, you just do
this over and over again, layer upon layer, until you have a final
3-dimensional product,” Lee said.
The Joseph Kohn Training Center gives blind and visually impaired people a
chance to learn largely vocational skills so they can become independent. The
intensive, 20-week training program is free for New Jersey residents. Students,
who are at least 18 years old, gain the skills needed to attend college, find
jobs or become independent homemakers. Training takes place on weekdays, and
the center has overnight residential space for 24 people.
When someone suffers a loss of vision, learning how to better use the senses
hearing, touch, taste and smell for day to day living is the largest
adjustment, according to the center.
Kim said he approached Professor Lee last spring, looking for a summer project
that would help the community.
“I had just learned how to use SolidWorks {3-D modeling computer-aided design
software} and so this summer project would be a great way to exercise a skill I
had just acquired, just for the community,” Kim said. “He told me about this
opportunity and I thought it was perfect.”
Lee launched the project and Kim jumped in. Both men knew nothing about
braille, so they had a steep learning curve.
They visited the center several times to get feedback from faculty and
students. They finished designing the map near the end of last summer.
“One of the things we saw with conventional braille printed on paper is that it
doesn’t last long,” Lee said.
The new maps made with state-of-the-art 3-D printers at Rutgers are a little
larger than a small computer tablet. They’re in a binder so students can easily
carry them for reference. They also have a legend, or guide, in braille, a
feature missing from prior maps. The legend helps limit the amount of map
training needed.
Lee said there’s only one copy of the maps so far and the goal is to lower
map-making costs so every student at the training center gets a map on day one.
As for the future, Lee said he’s interested in developing 3-D maps of the
Rutgers’ campuses and the city of New Brunswick.
The idea is to “give freedom, extended freedom, to navigate and go from one
place to another without worrying too much,” he said.
For more information, contact Todd B. Bates at tbates@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or
848-932-0550.
http://news.rutgers.edu/news/braille-maps-blind-and-visually-impaired-created-3-d-printing-technology-rutgers/20160221#.VtBnrMv2ZxA
