Final paper

Click here for a link to my final paper, summarizing all the work I have done this summer.

Week 9 and 10: Wrapping it up

The last two weeks were spent documenting my work for the past ten weeks. I wrote my report on the three projects that I worked on this summer, VizTouch, AlphaBraille (the project to convert text into 3D models), and the program to convert photographs into 3D models. I also made my poster that I will be presenting in several conferences, such as Tapia 2013. Since AlphaBraille was the only project that I made without getting material from someone else, so that is why I focused on that for my poster.

Week 8 - Graphs and Text to 3D model

I worked on two things this week. First, I worked on a Python script that is designed to convert a string of text into OpenSCAD code and to convert that code into a 3D model for use with the MakerBot. This program uses the techniques I used to merge text and Braille to make a string that should be legible by those with visual impairments.
The second thing I accomplished was another improvement to the VizTouch program. I figured out how to make the program generate a graph of two functions
In addition, my co-workers and I helped out with a celebration event for the Americans with Disabilities Act. At this event, we exhibited all our research projects.

Week 7 - Visit from Maryland School for the Blind

This week, I did some more experimentation with the VizTouch program. With this, I figured out how to print out a VizTouch graph with the two-color feature of the MakerBot Replicator Dual. After that, some of my co-workers and I helped some visitors from the Maryland School for the Blind with a tour of the UMBC campus. In this tour, we showed some of the prints we made with the MakerBot to the students there.

Week 6 - Text and Braille

This week, I started work on figuring out how to use the MakerBot and OpenSCAD coding to merge extrusion of alphanumeric characters and Braille. This is significant because not very many of the population with visual impairments cannot read Braille, so this can extend the Viztouch program to make it more readable to a wider audience (even to sighted people). I also made my own library of Braille characters in the OpenSCAD programming language. One of the aspects of my Braille library is the ability to change the height, diameter, and area of the Braille characters. Throughout the week, I experimented with the size of the Braille characters, printing out each Alpha-Braille letter with the MakerBot.

Week 5 - Another part

This week, I was tasked with helping out with a similar project to the VizTouch project I have been working on. This project is a collaboration effort between UMBC and the University of Maryland, College Park, and it is designed to make photographs more accessible to the blind by means of the MakerBot 3D printer. I have been taking several photographs and running them through the software to as part of a sort of debugging process for the program. As I ran pictures through the program, it generated 3D models for each of them.

Week 4 - DXF

Week 4 saw somewhat slower progress than the previous weeks. Some work that has been done trying to improve the making of bar charts, but it is still hard to put the full bars into DXF files rather than just their outlines. Also, I have tried to extend the VizTouch program to make it take two functions rather than just one. I am still having trouble translating the data into a DXF file.

Weeks 2 and 3 - Figuring it out

Week 2 was spent continuing to decipher the code for the VizTouch project. I finally got it to run toward the end of the week, producing an STL file with a graph that can be printed out via the MakerBot 3D printer. I am still having trouble printing out the STL file because of what I am assuming is problems with the way the printer is reading the file at a scale that can actually be printed. I am looking into it.
Week 3 saw two major improvements the VizTouch project. First, I found out how to separate the one STL file into two STL files (one with the background plate and the other with the grid and the data plotted on it). This is important because now we can make use of the new model of the MakerBot and its DualStrusion feature, which lets it print out objects in two colors of plastic. This will not directly help the blind, but it will make reading the graphs easier for those with very low vision.
The second improvement that has been made is the addition of bar graphs to the list of the types of graphs that can be generated through VizTouch, thus expanding the capabilities of the VizTouch software beyond simple function graphs. A problem has been introduced in that I am having trouble getting the bars in the STL file to be filled in rather than a simple outline.
For the next week, some tasks that I hope to accomplish are loading more than one function line into the graph and experimenting with how far the graph is extruded from the background plate.

Week 1 - Getting started

It looks like my internship is off to a good start. I met my professor, who got me acclimated to what the next 10 weeks were going to look like. After looking at all the projects that were offered, I decided to go with working on a piece of software that would help those with visual impairments be able to read graphs and charts. The first step that I plan to take with this project is to study the code thoroughly and to understand what each part does. So far, I have high hopes for this project.