BotaniBot: Designing sensory accessibility at the Matthei Botanical Gardens

Before they were Team Botanibot, Team 1 of the 2024 SEED Cohort and Summer Fellowship enrolled in the SEED Course as strangers. 

Shanjida Akhtar, from the College of Engineering, was looking for a project-based course when she found SEED. College of Engineering’s Yousif Matti needed a for-credit capstone project. Finally, Jenny Do from the School of Information was searching for a client-based course that approached design from a socially conscious lens. 

Though BotaniBot’s fourth member Gagana Jadhav, a graduate student at the School of Information, didn’t join Team BotaniBot until the Summer Fellowship, she was drawn to SEED’s sociotechnical lens and jumped at the opportunity.

Each of these passionate students became a part of the first-ever SEED Course cohort in Winter 2024 and took on the challenge of Sensory Accessibility at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum.

This is a spotlight on how they created their original navigation support app, BotaniBot.

Part I: Starting with the stakeholders 

After selecting the challenge presented to them by the SEED instructors, the three team members of BotaniBot started with a question: where do we even begin?  

With the support from SEED instructors, they turned to their stakeholders. Through conversations with the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, Akhtar, Do, and Matti built an understanding of the accessibility challenges they encounter. 

In addition, they also established contact with people who experience low vision or blindness. Through their generosity in sharing how they navigate the world, Team BotaniBot began to develop a direction for their project. 

“We got to know these people, their struggles, what they wanted, and what would be helpful for them,” describes Shanjida Akhtar. “They gave us a lot of feedback, excitement and support.” 

For the majority of this team, it was the first time they had the opportunity to embrace the Socially Engaged Design process as an approach to creating solutions. 

“I enjoyed the process and the new approach towards learning,” says Yousif Matti. “I had always loved the botanical gardens, and the thought of taking part in enabling a certain group of individuals to enjoy it sounded like an amazing thing to work on.” 

With their teammates and their instructors supporting them, Team BotaniBot got to work. 

A glimpse into BotaniBot’s brainstorming process

Part II: Diving into the design as a team

Through connecting with their stakeholders and exploring examples of technology’s potential to empower people with sensory disabilities, the team began to imagine an app that would help people with low vision and blindness navigate the Botanical Gardens and the Arboretum. 

As is always the case with the Socially Engaged Design process, round after round of iterations and stakeholder feedback informed Team BotaniBot on the solution they were creating and how the people they were creating it for would actually experience it. 

Combining group work and individual reflection assignments, Akhtar, Do, and Matti were challenged to think outside of the box – while also knowing that their instructors and their teammates were always there to support them. 

“We had no roles for this particular class,” explains Jenny Do. “We figured out who was good at what and just trusted that if there were any holes in skills or ideas that you have, the other people in the group were going to catch that.” 

At the end of the Winter 2024 semester, Team BotaniBot presented the first iteration of their BotaniBot app in a recorded presentation. 

Part III: Extending into the 2024 Summer Fellowship

When the opportunity arose for Akhtar, Do, and Matti to continue their project through the 2024 SEED Summer Fellowship, they each gladly took on the challenge. Although each team member was proud of the work they had accomplished throughout the semester, they also identified where further development could be made. 

Heading into the summer, Team BotaniBot grew by one more teammate: Gagana Jadhav, a graduate student from the School of Information. 

As the only member of Winter Semester’s Team 2 to move forward with the SEED Summer Fellowship, Gagana was given the option to join Team BotaniBot  – along with continuing Team 2’s project of creating a Sensory Accessibility Website. 

“I jumped at the opportunity because I was constantly admiring what BotaniBot was doing as well,” says Gagana Jadhav. “They spoke to a lot of very interesting stakeholders, and their project is super interesting. So I wanted to do that as well as continue working on my project.

Having focused on sensory processing accessibility at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Arboretum during the semester alongside her own team of Grace Robertson, Grace Whah, and Lisa Tarsavage, Jadhav was able to hop on board with the team’s goals while also contributing her own unique perspective. 

Expanding the app 

With the support of a new team member, BotaniBot further developed their prototype featuring navigation assistance, detailed descriptions, and a variety of options for different sensory needs. 

The app layout of BotaniBot is directly based on the feedback and requests the team received from stakeholders. By working so closely with those who the app is intended for, the design aimed to capture their specific needs in addition to other anticipated needs of potential users. 

But the work isn’t yet done. 

“The next step is to finalize the design and work on the map navigation system because that is the core of it all,” explains Gagana Jadhav. “We also envision having events for visitors with low vision and blindness to spread awareness about the app, and help get the word out.” 

Yousif Matti echoes Jadhav’s desire to connect users to the navigational assistance of BotaniBot, saying, “It would be the most exciting to see the people we worked with have access to the app we told them so much about,” says Matti. 

A look into BotaniBot’s protoype

Part IV: Reflecting on the SEED experience 

Through engaging with each other, their stakeholders, and the SEED instructors, Shanjida Ahktar, Jenny Do, Yousif Matti and Gagana Jadhav for the Summer Fellowship were able to develop their design approach, expand upon their collaborative stakeholder skills, and better understand accessibility in public spaces. 

“Whatever the stakeholder tells us –their needs and their challenges – we try to incorporate that into the app,” says Jadhav. “We try to ensure that the ideas come from them rather than from us.”

When asked to reflect on what made the SEED Course different from other courses she has taken, Do says, “I don’t feel like I’ve come across a project in which everyone involved was so excited and passionate to see where this project leads. The course itself was really unique in the sense that I don’t think I’ve taken a course where we’d go in and do the physical sticky notes as a team. It was very hands-on.”

Yousif Matti adds to this reflection, saying, “The course supported our design process by giving us access to amazing faculty and resources. Additionally, we implemented alot of the content we learned from the course.”

Finally, Shanjida Akhtar reflects on how, despite the nuance and complexity of the challenges, they always had support as students and designers. She says, “The instructors were people that were there to help us. If we needed them, they would come to us, or if they needed us, they would come like it. It was just really kind of like a friend, or a mentor guiding us through this process.”

To get involved or learn about Team BotaniBot’s future developments, you can reach Jenny at giangdo@umich.edu.  

Interested in tackling a local design issue with a socially-engaged approach? Reach out to C-SED’s Program Engagement Implementation Lead, Lawryn Fellwock to learn more.