Community Meeting (May 23, 2018): Laboratory Assistive Devices - Collaboration & Distribution
Description
Presenter: Ronald Song
Notes
- Purpose of project
- Started as a maker project for 4th year thesis for automation
- potential for a11y needs
- Want to make it low cost and based on open source technology
- Basic problem
- the lab equipment often aren't accessible
- e.g. small, slippery, small/hard to read labels, etc.
- the producers of the equipment are most concerned with precision and accuracy
- assumes an able bodied individual
- Need to retrofit the equipment, e.g. using a magnifying glass
- Existing accessible equipment is very expensive
- You could also hirer a lab assistant to run the experiments, however, the question is whether or not the student is actually learning, because they can only observe.
- the lab equipment often aren't accessible
- Maker Revolution
- parts tend to be inexpensive, flexible, and open source
- Universal Design in Chemistry
- Most experimental procedures are designed for able students
- Needs a paradigm shift from learning through physically doing to allow automation
- e.g. turning a knob on a piece of equipment → interacting with something to adjust the setting on the equipment
- The learning experience doesn't necessarily come from turning the knob, but from analyzing the data