Low-budget 3D printed haptic navigation aids for the visually impaired.

Abstract

In a culture shaped by the visual, having a visual impairment can present many difficulties, in particular concerning orientation and spatial awareness. Tactile models that allow users to experience an environment haptically can provide the spatial, object-based and sequential information necessary to facilitate visually impaired individuals’ orientation and mobility in the environment. The increasing availability of 3D printing technologies and digital model data would allow for the creation of customisable tactile models tailored to an individual’s needs and without high costs for design and fabrication. In this paper we explore design and fabrication of low-budget 3D printed tactile models for testing on real users.