impact – ARC Design Hub

April 30, 2018September 11, 2018

Dieselzilla

A project currently in progress in the Design Hub of American River College is called the “Dieselzilla vs. Drones” Project. We start with interns Kevin and Sean, who are collaborating along with James Mullerleile on this project in the Design Hub. Kevin is the programmer, and Sean is the 3D Designer behind this project. When we first hear the word, “Dieselzilla,” of course we are left wondering “what in the world is this, and what does it do?”

Well, Dieselzilla is the huge metal sculpture in the front of the Student Services and Cafeteria area (the huge glass building behind the American River College Library).

Every day on the way to class, students who walk past it are seen doing double takes. Most can’t take their eyes off of it- as mesmerizing as a well-crafted, fantastically massive Godzilla sculpture can be. Most students on campus pass Dieselzilla every day and have no clue as to how or why it got there. Even our photography intern, Angelique, told us “Ever since I started attending, I wondered what it was and why it was there- and now I had the chance to find out,” before she captured some pictures of the magnificent metal beast.

Parts of Dieselzilla. Photo by photography intern Angelique Doty

The Design Hub interns discussed the structure of the sculpture. It actually moves around with the use of a hydraulic system within the Dieselzilla! To the right, we can take a look at what goes inside of the massive metal body.

These are the parts that were designed and put together by our interns, and this is what makes the magic happen. With everything in place, Dieselzilla comes to life!

This is a very cool, collaborative project, as well as an impressive and intriguing presence everyday on our campus.

March 2, 2018September 11, 2018

Exploring Language Through Technology and Art at the Design Hub

American River College’s Spanish 361 class, led by Professor Currea, is about learning and applying the student’s knowledge of Spanish through conversation. Rather than just studying and learning phrases, Professor Currea challenges her students to learn a new skill all while speaking Spanish. The class attended the Kaneko art gallery- American River College’s art gallery on campus that houses all of our student artwork. They observed and conversed in Spanish about their thoughts and impressions of the artist’s work. Afterwards, each student was asked to choose a word that best described what they felt or took away from the experience. This past week, the new skill that the class was taught in Spanish was how to prepare their chosen Spanish word from the art experience for laser etching. The students were each asked to pick a word that represented all of the emotions, experiences, and thoughts about the artist’s work, and how that could be generated and laser etched by the Design Hub. This project then given back to the artist, bringing the experience full circle as the students show their appreciation through their application of the Spanish language.

On Thursday, February 22nd, the class was brought into the Design Hub, where Sean gave a tour of where lab and a demonstration of how the 3D printer works so the students could see all that the Design Hub has to offer.

During this visit, we had the opportunity to conduct some quick interviews with some of these students.

Peter Brixie, Spanish 361 student at ARC

One of them was Peter Brixie, their word: Hermosa. Peter has greatly enjoyed Professor Correia’s class. The most helpful part about having to constantly converse with others in Spanish is that it helps make speaking in Spanish second nature. For Peter, thinking about the translation between English and Spanish all in his head was the most challenging task for him. Having the class focus more on conversing has been greatly beneficial and fun for Peter learning Spanish. His word that he chose to add to the word cloud was “hermosa”, meaning “beautiful”.

Another student, Theresa Pavale had the word “la vida”. Theresa told us she is studying to be a nurse practitioner in the trauma center, and was really impressed when Randy showed how the Design Hub is able to 3D print bones and anatomical models for her department. She was also impressed by the amount of resources that the Design Hub would be able to provide students like her with. The word that she chose was “la vida”, meaning “life”. She was very taken with the painting titled, “Water of Life” and the meaning of the painting: that if there is life, there will be water and how you cannot have one without the other.

It was great to hear from these students and to get the opportunity to introduce them to our Design Hub community. As well as hearing how they applied the Spanish language to art, it serves as an example that being able to use different ways to communicate about things can be a force to broaden our understanding and perspective on the world.

We appreciate Professor Currea and the wonderful Spanish 361 class for visiting, and allowing us to share our beloved corner of campus.

February 28, 2018September 11, 2018

Seeing Through the Eyes of the Blind

Here at Arc we are doing the impossible: Seeing through the eyes of the blind. There are some amazing opportunities that are opening up to students with disabilities here on campus!

Meet Robin, a very special student here at ARC. She is one of the first students on campus to be a part of a very new technology that was introduced this semester: smart glasses for the blind. At first, it may sound like an oxymoron. But these glasses are a tool that will revolutionize campus accessibility for those who are visually impaired.

We met in the cafeteria Starbucks to sit down and chat about how the technology and the program worked, and how it helps her in so many different ways. “What time is it? Oh my gosh! I actually got here on time!!” Robin says as she takes the seat next to me. She continues to tell me that these glasses have made getting places so much smoother. Then, to answer the first question we all want answers to, Robin dives right in to how these glasses work, and what exactly they do.

Smart Glasses. Photo by intern Bailey Wineland

They are called “smart glasses”. Basically, they are a set of glasses that have a camera attached. This camera links up to a device called my-fi, and is also linked to an app on a smartphone. This is where things get interesting: This setup was created by a company called Aira, which has a team of agents who are readily available to assist anyone who presses their my-fi device. “They are seeing what you’re seeing when the glasses are on, and the device is connected. You call them, and they can see what’s around you. You can hold something up to the glasses and they can read that back to you. It’s really a neat device.”

Robin wears this device to all of her classes. She says it definitely makes things easier, going from point A to point B. “I haven’t had any mobility training prior to attending ARC. And now, I’m more interested in getting places when I am talking to these agents. They help me navigate and then I can remember routes on campus that I can eventually take on my own.”

Navigation isn’t the only thing that Aira can assist with, either. These agents can also help with reading things like menus at restaurants, road signs, and even things in class like white boards and rubrics. “The other day I had an Aira agent read me the directions on a pack of fish filets. I got to hear the nutrition facts and the serving size.”

Closing out our interview with Robin, we talked about how important it is to have services like this available to students who are visually impaired. These glasses can help students navigate campus safely and with confidence. We are beginning to see some positive ripple effects from the Design Hub. This is only one of the many projects being spearheaded by the Hub, and we couldn’t be more grateful to be able to help and represent the students of ARC!