As the semester started, work on thesis picked up with initial presentations and feedback rounds. There was a lot of positive response on the project premise and concept so far. My focus for this semester is on the production of the final tool.

During winter break, I connected with Erika Teal, who is a teacher for visually impaired (TVI). She works on designing and redesigning existing games and curriculums to support teaching children with partial or complete blindness by making them accessible. Some the things she made were -

3D printed dice with braille numbers

Braille letters stuck on the back of scrabble tiles to make it accessible

Braille typed on existing Uno cards

Roll and move board games with holes to differentiate the different spaces

She provided some great insights -

• Giving verbal descriptions of what is happening plays an important role in teaching blind children
• There are different types of teaching methods while guiding a child’s hand over objects to help them understand like - hand over hand or hand under hand
• Especially in the context of anatomy, tactility would play a primary role in communication because it is important for them to understand how things are spatially and how parts fit into the anatomy
• Using puffy paints for prototyping can be a good way to test during early stages
• Another way to check if the prototype is working is to simply close your eyes and check if you can make the distinctions in different letters/ objects yourself
• Wooden shape puzzles have been proven very useful in communicating shapes developing a sense of space and objects for the children

This gave me a better understanding of how to explore the development of shape based interactions as a way to teach and learn anatomy for blind students.

During my first test on the laser cutting machines last semester (mentioned here Process Paper 3) I found a good result on 1/8” thick plywood. I chose plywood because it was the only material that could give enough depth in engraving to have raised surfaces. As shown in the Long Table Plan, I started by created files to raster engrave and cut using the laser cutters. I also sourced 5/32” plywood from Home Depot - which is very slightly thicker than the 1/8” I had tested on. I had to spend quite some time of the process figuring out the best raster engraving settings for the laser cutting machines.

I ran the raster engraving twice on the same piece for more depth. The issues faced during the first iteration - 1. The plywood bent which caused uneven layers of the plywood to come out causing it to break. 2. The cuts didn’t come out accurately because I didn’t use anything to hold down the plywood on the machine bed. 3. The sequence in which the pieces got engraved/ cut made it even more uneven.

After this I decided to test using more settings to check if it’s possible to avoid running the same file twice. I also separated the engraving and cutting and used weights to hold down the plywood board. I cut extra pieces that could work as handles when stuck on the different pieces and cut holes on the board for making and testing possible electrical connections to incorporate sound later on.