Oct 20, 2015 | By Kira
Just a few weeks ago, we wrote about how Wisconsin-based manufacturing company Beyond Vision was using 3D printing technology to increase employee productivity by an impressive 20%. This is because the non-profit company has the goal of providing employment opportunities to people who are legally blind, and by 3D printing custom, mistake-proof fixtures, they were able to ensure that their operator’s were able to efficiently and correctly perform their jobs even without the ability to see. Now, going above and beyond business efficiency measures, Beyond Vision has found a unique way to use their 3D printers to enrich the lives of their blind employees.
Many people who are visually impaired—particularly those who have been blind since birth—have never had the opportunity to physically visualize objects they may come across in their everyday lives. Simply describing the shape, size, and texture of an object is one thing, but that only relays about half of the information. Rather than relying on verbal descriptions, people who are visually impaired often rely on another sense to ‘see’ things around them—their sense of touch.
In order to share the beauty of everyday objects that most of us take for granted, Beyond Vision worked with 3D technology provider Graphics Systems Corps (GSC) to 3D print models of snowflakes, butterflies, and sailboats that their blind employees could hold, examine, and fully understand. “With 3D printing, you are essentially representing a 3D image in a physical form, and we thought this is a way that we can actually allow blind people to see things that they can’t normally see,” explained Jim Kerlin, president and CEO of Beyond Vision.
The models they printed included several variations of delicate snowflakes, allowing the employees to feel the differences between each one, as well as butterfly with articulated wings that let the employees understand not only how butterflies move, but also the pattern on the wings. While some employees had physically been on a sailboat, they couldn’t imagine what it looked like from front to back. The 3D printed model let them feel the shape of the sails and layout of the boat. In collaboration with GSC, the Midwest’s leading provider of Dassault Systemes and Stratasys Solutions, the models were 3D printed using Stratasys FDM technologies.
When employees were asked what other objects they would like to experience in 3D printed format, some of their suggestions included a basketball court, baseball diamond, and a local neighborhood map. In addition to enhancing work productivity and enriching their understanding of these objects, Beyond Vision also used 3D printed models of the manufacturing space to guide their blind employees through the correct escape routes, potentially saving them during fires or other evacuation emergencies.
In their mission to employ and improve the quality of life of the legally blind, Beyond Vision is providing an incredibly important service, and in striving to find the most unique and beneficial uses for their 3D printers, they are revealing a beautiful and very human side of additive manufacturing technology.
Previously, we have seen 3D printing technology used to educate and assist the visually impaired in the case of 3D printed tactile picture books, 3D printed recreations of famous works of art, and the heart-warming story of a blind and deaf mother who received a 3D printed bust of her daughter so that she could always remember her face, even after she had moved away for college.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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