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Vadodara boy Neel Vyas working on 3D model to help blind students study architecture

Vadodara boy Neel Vyas working on 3D model to help blind students study architecture
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With fellow students from Louisiana State University working on 3D printed model construction documents for visually impaired learning.

A Vadodara boy Neel Vyas is working on a 3D model in USA to help the blind students to study architecture. He along with other fellow students from Louisiana State University are working on 3D printed model construction documents for visually impaired learning.

Accessibility in Action is what the team is working on for months and also include a BVI learner undergraduate volunteer to get the real feedback of the research. Vincent Cellucci (College of Art & Design CxC Studio Coordinator), Neel Vyas (ARCH graduate assistant), Isabel Rountree (LA undergraduate assistant), Andie Ottenweller (ARCH undergraduate assistant), and Gianni Toce (BVI-learner undergraduate volunteer) is the team working on the project from the start of 2019.

The students from Louisiana State University is actively working on the project to provide greater accessibility for learners with disabilities. They overcome the challenges and use the innovative 3D printing technology in their research.

One of the first challenges they faced was trying to improve how to explain information from images, technical diagrams, or visual learning artifacts in ways more effective than simple text.

As they are in Art & Design, they decided to focus on just a single idea in architecture: translating line weights from construction documents or building plans into 3D models. They then explore other criteria and visual representation strategies for converting information from 2D technical diagrams into tactile 3D models for blind or visually impaired (BVI) learners.

Neel says, they started this project in January 2019 and it is still very much in the pilot stages. They have made several prototypes (on a variety of 3D printers) and recruited a BVI student volunteer with experience in tactile diagrams. Now currently improving their iterations of 3D models with feedback from the volunteer before pursuing publications and applying for funding opportunities to continue the research.

They will continue to get the feedback and iteration process with their BVI learner volunteer to improve the 3D model until the feedback is positive. They are also try to find more volunteers to provide feedback and suggestions to improve efficiency and explore and implement additional visual representation strategies regarding the output.

Neel added their project is replicable by other universities and schools especially institutions focused on BVI education, which they like to collaborate to expand the impact of the research.

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