Makeactive-UK: a VR touch studio for sight-impaired users

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The Open University, Faculty of STEM

Makeactive: an exploration of how a multimodal virtual maker space could assist non-sighted designer makers.

As part of The Open University's events for British Science Week, we bring you this online lecture with Dr Lisa Bowers from The Open University and Dr Alistair Barrow from Genetics Robotics Limited. Follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/OU_STEM" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheOpenUniversitySTEM" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a> for updates on all of our #BSW22 events. For the sight-impaired creative community it is difficult to facilitate an appropriate simulation modelling systems akin to Adobe or AutoCAD due to the viso-centric nature of these systems. This creates a barrier for non-sighted and sight impaired practitioners making it more difficult to gain equal access and this limits their digital skills range. A participant from the Makeactive-UK project states:“The world is becoming very, very visual and in a document, we're seeing different pictures we’re seeing different drawings videos. We're seeing very different types of visual effects. Because of the (sic) lot of technology the blind person cannot communicate cannot give to the world.” (Participant 2, 2022) Drawing on our extensive expertise in user-led studies and augmented reality (AR) systems, we aim to develop a dynamic touch-based system which seeks to resolve issues related to access to computer aided design (CAD) for the sight-impaired creative community by exchanging sight for touch and sound. The Makeactive-UK project will ultimately afford non-sighted &amp; sight impaired users to work alongside their sighted peers to enable collaboration on ideation and germinal phases within the virtual realm.Dr Alastair Barrow is co-founder and CEO at Generic Robotics Ltd. Alastair has worked at and with many of the top UK research institutions in a variety of capacities, heading up the technology development of large-scale projects. Since founding GR, he has helped secure substantial funding for R&amp;D and overseen the development of Toia® and the SimuTouch® universal clinical-skills simulation platform. As well as his roles within GR, Alastair maintains honorary positions at Imperial College London and UCL where he collaborates and advises on a variety of research activities.Dr Lisa Bowers has a role as Accessibility Lead, alongside teaching and managing duties within the faculty of Engineering and Innovation. As an inclusive designer, Lisa has worked with the NHS, Kings Fund projects and various disability charities across the UK and Ireland. More recently Lisa has contributed to the OpenSTEM Laboratories portfolio at the Open University, trialling haptic facilitation for non-sighted undergraduate design-students, thereby overcoming sight-impairment barriers to learning in applied disciplines.Partner organisation(s): Generic Robotics

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Makeactive-UK: a VR touch studio for sight-impaired users

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