SHIVA: Virtual sculpting and 3D printing for disabled children.

Abstract

In this paper we present the SHIVA project which was designed to provide virtual sculpting tools for children with complex disabilities, to allow them to engage with artistic and creative activities that they might otherwise never be able to access. Modern 3D printing then allows us to physically build their creations. To achieve this, we combined our expertise in education, accessible technology, user interfaces and geometric modelling. We built a generic accessible graphical user interface (GUI), a suitable geometric modelling system and used these to produce two prototype modelling systems. These tools were deployed in a school for students with disabilities and are being used for a variety of educational purposes. In this paper, we present the project's motivations, approach and implementation details together with initial results, including 3D printed objects designed by children with disabilities.