[Blindmath] anyone heard of 3-D printing?

[Sina Bahram]

Ken, this is about right. I feel that 3-D printing is the most transformative technology of our time, even more so than the internet. The ability to make one's own stuff when one desires stuff has massive potential to disrupt things like basic economics, education, etc.

The ability to print something and just drop it into the palm of someone who can't see puts to shame any tactile graphic, prebuilt manipulative, or anything else in the modern pedagogical toolbox, because frankly, it can be customized to the user, adapted to the specific functional needs of the given student or individual, and also done for pennies on the dollar compared to buying such things. Not to mention, it can be on demand.

As for accessibility. That becomes a huge factor when dealing with any kind of customization or change needed to be made to a 3-D shape. Folks are working on this, but the best we've got is for eyes-free users such as blind ones to use a programming language to generate the figures before shoving them off to the printer.

So, yes, synthesis is harder to do, but consumption can be achieved by downloading shapes and printing them.

We're past phase 1, but we are not even done with the beginning of this movement. The end of the beginning is in sight in a few years, and then the fun happens.

Incidentally, if anyone is interested in 3-D printing in the context of teaching vision impaired students, I strongly urge you to check out Ting Siu's upcoming webinar on the subject.
https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=mphepsbx86xy

enjoy

take care,
Sina

President, Prime Access Consulting, Inc.
Twitter: @SinaBahram
Company Website: http://www.pac.bz
Personal Website: http://www.sinabahram.com
blog: http://blog.sinabahram.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ken Perry
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2014 10:24 PM
To: 'qubit'; 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] anyone heard of 3-D printing?

This stuff has been huge for the last few years in research, at
conferences, and just about anywhere where people are trying to make
science accessible.  One problem with the cheaper models is they have to be
constantly aligned and the results of print out's are not as good as the
more expensive ones.  I saw a good session on the pro's and con's of a
couple of the printers at CSUN this year and my advice is watch some of the
folks doing the research at schools because it doesn't cost them personal
money to buy the wrong printer and find out it doesn't work as good as
advertised.  My problem with this technology right now is while the results
of print out's are awesome it many times takes a sited person to work with
a blind person to get a good result being that the software to get the 3d
rendering the way you want is not exactly accessible.  

Pleas Sina or Tylor let me know if I am wrong I have only worked with a
couple of the cheaper maker bots and now the 3doodler but my biggest
problem is getting the images I want into a form I can use.

ken

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of qubit
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2014 7:07 AM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Blindmath] anyone heard of 3-D printing?

This one caught me by surprise the other day on a talk show.
I listened, then googled "3-D printer" and got some fascinating hits. 
Apparently there are printers available that produce high resolution 3-D 
plastic objects from digital input models.
It is also called additive manufacturing or plastic holography.
But that's not all, the price of one of these units is as low as $499.
Try googling -- it is an interestiing read.
I couldn't help but think of possible uses by blind persons.
On the tv interview they demo'd the unit and described how this technology 
has been used and misused.  For example, some people have used it to create

plastic handguns, which are illegal as they look so much like the real 
thing.
He also demo'd creating a plastic apple.
There is a lot more on the internet.

Anyway, am I behind the times, or has anyone else heard of 3-D printers?
I want one :)
--le



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