Project Aakaar

Access to higher education in STEM is limited to students with disabilities globally. The issue is particularly prevalent in countries like India, where the root cause of exclusion in education is not addressed. Students are frequently advised against pursuing such dreams due to the systems' lack of adequate devices and tools in schools.

Presently, we are targeting the issue of a single-disability (visually impaired) and single-subject (geometry) via tactile devices that can be easily integrated into the curriculum, such as tactile tangram puzzles and the Hexacompass.  Additionally, the team has been actively working on curating other designs into the Aakaar repository and conducting empathy-building workshops in schools with 3D printing capability for leveraging crowdsourcing principles.

Disabilities are not addressed in systems and product design as a precursor but rather as a band-aid to address any concerns. We need more inclusion, co-design, and a deeper understanding to create genuinely inclusive products. 

In countries like India, students with disabilities are systematically excluded from pursuing higher STEM education because of the unavailability of tools and proper training. The present system results in massive underrepresentation and accessibility being treated as an afterthought. We are working on enabling access to quality learning experiences for VI students, including tenets of imaginative play and hands-on experiments for the subject of geometry presently.

Most present statistics address the percentage of differently-abled individuals within current graduate populations instead of measuring the % transition within the community. ~60% of students in the VI community fail graduate classes because their fundamentals have not been built up sufficiently. Almost 18.9 million children under 15 years of age are visually impaired globally but the number of visually impaired students in higher studies, especially in STEM is dismal (<1%).

With our present problem statement, we target 500 students in India in the short term but potentially 5-7k of the same in the coming five years, especially if we can expand to more disabilities.

We are actively building a repository of first-hand custom co-designed innovative tactile teaching devices and also establishing a network for their manufacturing and distribution across cities and villages in India.These devices are designed with input from teachers for visually impaired (VI), focusing on their alignment with the school curriculum. Special care is taken to make them VI-friendly and increase their usability, where individual devices can teach multiple concepts at different teaching levels. These designs are computer-generated and rapidly manufacturable using 3D printers, which increases their reachability and the use of PLA makes the end-prints environmentally safe.

At present, we have designed two devices: Tactile Tangram Puzzles and Hexacompass.

Tactile Tangram Puzzles focuses on intuition-building for important geometric concepts like orientation and shape decomposition and connecting geometry with architecture. Apt for primary level teaching, these puzzles have simple fitting pieces that can fit into different templates based on orientation. Some puzzles are based on monuments where suitable pieces of simple shapes fill in the missing architectural features, e.g. fitting a semi-circle in the dome of the Taj Mahal.

Hexacompass is a VI-friendly compass for measuring and constructing angles. It has been designed to encourage VI students to practice geometry comfortably.

The primary target group is visually impaired (VI) school students in India. Just like sighted students, these differently-abled students have great enthusiasm for science and technology (as evident from our conversations with VI students about their science projects in Devnar School for the Blind in Hyderabad, India). Still, most of them are unable to pursue it in higher studies because of the lack of resources providing for a solid conceptual understanding of STEM. Many of them are even encouraged by their parents and teachers to take up humanity fields like teaching, law, etc., which are less technically demanding.

Notably, the subject of geometry, an essential topic for STEM, is a particularly challenging one due to the lack of visual perception in VI students. Our conversations with the teachers of the VI revealed that the education boards in India do recognize this issue and exempt students from answering geometry-related questions in the exam. What seems like a relief for both student and the teacher soon becomes a hurdle at a higher education level because these exemptions also steal away their eligibility to study sciences. Further, the teachers focus less on the subject as it doesn't count towards the exam preparation. All this spirals quickly into a geometry-deprived education for the VI students.

Having a collection of tactile educational devices that builds on concepts of geometry can be a game-changer. Designed with the teachers for VI and aligned around the curriculum, they can make geometry education more effective and understandable. Our goal is to develop an open repository of these devices supporting geometry education until the high school level. We hope to shift the standard from 'not required' to 'can do' where geometry is not a barrier for them to pursue STEM. 

The problem we are addressing is 'Equitable Geometric Education' for the Visually Impaired and educationally underprivileged kids in India. Our solution Project Aakaar aims to provide alternative educational aids such as 3D printed tactile tangram puzzles that enable visually impaired (VI) kids to touch, feel, and engage in learning the concepts of Geometry. The puzzles have been designed over two years of rigorous user interviews, ideation, user testing, and iterations with the target audience, VI kids, and the extended community (teachers, schools). Hence, this is a very well-aligned solution to the challenge in focus. 

We've been collaborating with partners to 3D print the tactile tangram puzzles to be distributed among visually impaired kids. The partner school Smt. Kamalabai Educational Institute is currently conducting empathy-building classes for the sighted kids based on a Teach-the-Trainers curriculum that leverages our initial prints' learnings. The outcomes of the workshop are 3D printed tactile tangram puzzles that will be shipped to visually impaired kids. We've already started discussions with schools for the visually impaired like Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind and organizations like the National Association for the Blind to distribute these validated puzzles. 

Our team has successfully piloted this circular economy model between schools for the sighted and for the visually impaired and is looking to scale up our manufacturing and distribution. 

At present, there are NO cost-effective tactile devices in India that can teach geometrical concepts to visually impaired middle-school and high-school students. This is a non-existent intervention that prevents equitable STEM education for our visually impaired friends. CSR initiatives do not target VI mass-manufactured tactile educational aids due to short-term cost-benefit analyses that do not consider residual and, more importantly, social value over time. We hope to be the catalyst that triggers the floodgates, as they say. 

Our approach has four distinctively unique features that are as follows - 

1) Utilizing 3D printing and existing infrastructure at sighted schools for creating prints instead of establishing a new factory process (though that might be cheaper when we scale up) 

2) Co-design, development, and testing of the prints via collaboration with visually impaired students resulting in feedback at each stage of the process

3) Building empathy and raising awareness about the extent of the problem in sighted students at a young age for their differently-abled friends 

4) The devices can be used by visually impaired students and also by sighted students (especially those who are struggling with traditional methods of learning) making the product inclusive of all

It is our vision that the cost-effectiveness, environmental sustainability, and universality of the designs would attract CSR and grant funding, thus helping us address the issue on a national scale. 

At present, we have been working with a singular school for the visually impaired (VI) in India which is the Ramana Maharishi Institute for the Blind (~30 students), and have received positive feedback during the co-design, testing, and feedback gathering sessions. This first session included a set of chosen students who were interested in the workshop and was not compulsory.  

In 2022, we aim to serve around ten schools for the VI across India, serving an estimated average of around 100 students per school, bringing the total number of visually impaired children to about 1k in one year. However, based on the availability of printers and activation of the NAB connection, we could scale up rapidly. 

Over the next five years, we aim to connect with every major school for the visually impaired in all cities of India having a population of >1 Million, which is around 50 cities in India. This would involve reaching approximately 5-7k visually impaired students out of the estimated ~15k students in the nation.  

For our solution, there are 5 different categories of impact metrics that we shall be measuring and we will track progress for them in the following manner - 

Distribution of prints to VI schools: Measuring the impact goal of connecting with schools for the visually impaired would be through the compilation of data involving the number of schools connected with, students involved, students actively using and puzzles distributed.  

• Design Validation: An accurate measure of the impact goal involving design, validation, and distribution of the puzzles/tools would be to establish metrics such as the number of initial design prints, rejected prints, finalized prints, etc. 
• Effectiveness: An accurate measure of the impact goal involving effectiveness would be to establish metrics in coordination with teachers of the visually impaired in data points such as improvement in scores of the students in the topics covered vs. not covered, qualitative feedback from students in their engagement, interest in the subject and so on.
• Repository Growth: Measuring the impact goal of repository growth would be through the compilation of data involving the number of designs generated, designs approved, puzzles distributed.
• T3 Distribution: Measuring the impact goal of the workshops and distribution of T3 materials would be through the compilation of data involving the number of schools distributed to, students involved, students actively contributing, etc.
• Integration into Curriculum: An accurate measure of the impact goal involving curriculum integration would be to monitor the number of relationships with local, state, and social educational organizations. 

At present, we have 7 part-time staff working on this project including 3 graduate students and 4 professionals. Each team member has a personal commitment of a minimum of 10 hours/week on this project which is expected to positively increase as we notice gain in traction.

Sarthak and Shantanu were part of the original team that did the groundwork research for Project Aakaar during their UG studies at NIT Warangal. They worked directly with the visually impaired community for ~1.5 years. Presently, they are pursuing graduate studies at RWTH in Simulation Sciences and UC-Davis in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, respectively. They have the technical skills to expand and refine the crowdsourced repository, which will be an essential part of establishing our national presence in the coming year and beyond. 

Prithvi joined the team as part of the Humanistic project in Jan 2019, and Indrayud was introduced to the project by Dr. Kyle Keane during Summer 2020. Both Indrayud and Prithvi (with VI) have 7+ years of experience working on edu-social development projects beyond their academic and professional pursuits. Prithvi is an MS in Design from IIT Kanpur who is presently working as the Lead UX Designer at Trimble, bringing direct industry design experience. Indrayud is currently pursuing an MS in Systems Design and Management. His study and research is focused on establishing the envisioned circular economy and connecting the systemic components that can accelerate the integration of the imagined tools into the current curriculum.  

Ankit has extensive start-up experience and has led Product Development & Product Management, Business Planning and Strategy, Talent Acquisition and Team Building, Networking and Partnerships, New Markets Exploration, and Establishment across multiple companies. He is our Business Lead and is guiding us on a possible growth strategy based on his experience. 

Our target market is presently urban and pre-urban areas in India and we have representation from all four corners of the subcontinent - Sarthak (north), Ankit (west), Prithvi & Shantanu (south), and Indrayud (east). These regions are culturally extremely different and based on discussions that we have had with stakeholders in our specific regions, this issue is prevalent across the country and has been corroborated by teachers, students, and professionals alike. Additionally, Ms. Radhika Manoharan has been a tremendous support and advocate throughout the entire process and been a rockstar in terms of support for the team and community. The leadership team ensures that decisions are made after discussions with all of the team members and are inclusive of all opinions post deliberation. 

We are applying to MIT Solve as it can help us overcome the barriers mentioned in the above section as follows - 

Financial:

1. Accelerating access to a dedicated Makerspace for rapid prototyping and print creation by providing access to $10k through Solve.
2. Providing exposure to a much larger investing community through the Partner challenges.
3. Access relevant in-kind resources such as software licenses and legal services from Solve Member and partner organizations. 

Technical:

1. Access to a network of like-minded individuals, peers, and experts who might want to contribute to the repository. 
2. Exposure to a network of manufacturing experts who can guide on the transition from 3D printing to large-scale injection molding. 

Legal: 

1. Legal expertise on the establishment of a social innovation enterprise, ensuring incorporation of standards
2. Assistance on creative commons open licenses and repository ownership

Market: 

1. Access to mentorship, coaching, and strategic advice from experts, through the Solve and MIT networks. 
2. Gain exposure in the media and at conferences

The circular economy model works on local city-scale projects but is unsustainable for the nationwide scope we envision as our final target. ATL (Atal Tinkering Labs), our major printing partner, can only give us a specific time-share during the week because they are associated with other schools and projects. The establishment of a dedicated Makerspace is something that we need immediate assistance with to scale up and reach our envisioned targets in the next 1-5 years. 

Guidance in the matters such as strategy development, fundraising, directed pitching, and marketing would help us in strengthening our organizations' base. Teams, mentors, and Solve advisors would also advise on any legal and regulatory issues they might have faced in disability-oriented initiatives. The Solve community is vast and provides access to individuals globally who might be interested in contributing to the problem from a knowledge, design, development, coordination, or testing standpoint, amongst other forms of engagement. 

The problem we are trying to address is global, and integrating with teams in different nations would then address inclusion in our leadership team in its' most authentic essence. Minimization or elimination of licensing costs through this association would be highly appreciated. Furthermore, collaboration with disability advocacy bodies across nations is most welcome due to the maximization of impact and outreach. 

The National Association for the Blind (NAB) was the first social organization for addressing vision loss in India, beginning operations in 1952. They will be an essential partner for the distribution of our prints nationally. Potential future partners would be the Government led education-based publications such as NCERT (The National Council of Educational Research and Training), which will help us scale and integrate the solution into the established curriculum at a national level in India. 

We are already in association with Atal Tinkering Labs (https://www.aim.gov.in/pdf/Ope...), which has >7k labs in the nation, but we have only collaborated with them on a particular location. We hope to continue this relationship and expand our operations through their available infrastructure in tier-2 cities where we cannot afford to establish our Project Aakaar specific Makerspaces.

Since the inception of this project, our team has been working closely with Dr. Kyle Keane (http://www.kylekeane.com/), a true blessing to this project and has been an advocate for equitable access for the differently-abled for ~2 decades with Humanistic being his brain-child. 

Connection to the DMSE labs for lightweight, cheap, and environmentally materials and access to labs with stereolithography would be highly beneficial for prototyping high fidelity and precision prints. 

The GM Prize is dedicated to making STEM education more accessible and equitable, aligning perfectly with our target interventions. Our solution is targeted towards equitable education for the visually impaired (VI) in India, who are not addressed appropriately, and, more importantly, imbibing empathy and accessibility in the DNA of non-disabled individuals through early interventions instead of late-stage corrections. 

There are misrepresented VI children in every populace, including refugees in any country. Still, the problems faced by refugees are challenging and deserve more attention than the suggested task at hand. However, ignoring the issue instead of addressing the root cause will ensure that the problem persists till eternity. 

Our intervention works to enable access to middle and high school geometry education for visually impaired students and sighted students struggling with traditional methods. The GM Prize would be specifically helpful in the following three ways: 

1. Establishment of a dedicated "Project Aakaar" Makerspace, purchase of ~30 Creality-like printers, and expansion into multiple tier-1 and tier-2 towns in 2022 in India
2. Reducing the financial burden from the core team and eliminating out-of-pocket costs
3. Testing and establishing the efficacy of the tools as a non-traditional educational method by distribution in sighted schools along with schools for the visually impaired

Not Applicable.

The GSR Prize is dedicated to making use of an innovative and sustainable approach to tackling the most pressing issues of their local communities. Our solution is targeted towards a sustainable approach to improving education for the visually impaired (VI) in India, which is not addressed adequately enough in the subcontinent at present. VI students are systematically excluded from higher STEM education based on inadequate educational practices and insufficient learning practices. 

Our intervention works to enable access to middle and high school geometry education for visually impaired students and sighted students struggling with traditional methods. The GSR Prize would be specifically helpful in the following three ways: 

1. Establishment of a dedicated "Project Aakaar" Makerspace, purchase of ~30 Creality-like printers, and expansion into multiple tier-1 and tier-2 towns in 2022
2. Reducing the financial burden from the core team and eliminating out-of-pocket costs
3. Testing and establishing the efficacy of the tools as a non-traditional educational method by distribution in sighted schools along with schools for the visually impaired