See3D is helping people see thanks to 3D printing

3D printing has helped many people in many ways due to the wide-ranging variety of its applications. In order to help people, we can mention applications in the educational system as well as in the medical sector. One organisation that has found a way to help people directly with 3D technologies is See3D. This organisation uses 3D printing to help the visually impaired “see” various things. We got to talk with the founder of See3D, Caroline Karbowski, to learn more about this great initiative.

3DN: Can you please introduce yourself and explain how the idea of See3D came to be?

My name is Caroline Karbowski, and I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. I am currently a first-year student at The Ohio State University. When I was in 6th grade, I decided to teach myself braille, so I could read books in the car without getting dizzy. While I was learning braille, I came across an article about how 3D printing could be used to make telescope and microscope images tactile, so people who are blind could make their own observations. I decided I could help by 3D printing models and adding braille labels.

Caroline Karbowski

However, I did not know anyone who was blind who wanted a model, and I did not have access to a 3D printer. In high school, we had 3D printers, but I realized that many people wanted to print objects because the printers were so fascinating, but they were not sure what to print. We also had a lot of leftover filament from student projects. I thought, “What if we printed models for people who are blind?” and decided to make that the basis for a project to present at TechOlympics, a student-run technology conference in Cincinnati for high school students.