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A young teenager's invention is breaking new ground in technology to help the blind.
At the age of 12, Shubham Banerjee realized that most blind people do not have access to a Braille printer, which can cost up to $2,000.
So he decided to try to make his own using a robotic LEGO kit. Before long, he had the prototype of a lower-cost Braille printer.
Banerjee worked with Henry Wedler, a blind doctoral student in chemistry at the University of California. Wedler worked with Banerjee to find a way to make a Braille printer that blind people could use independently.
Banerjee's project drew media attention and funding from Intel Capital, where Banerjee's father works, after undergoing a series of evaluations. The company is now testing and perfecting the printer.
Intel also asked him to help make their Edison microprocessor more accessible for the blind. He helped engineer it to automatically print news headlines so that a blind person can access printed news as easily as a sighted person does on a smartphone.
Wedler said the printer is uniquely important for the blind. "There is something so special that comes with taking a page, opening a book, and reading that page yourself," he said.
Now 13, Banerjee juggles a schedule of school, work and meetings with investors. But he plans to expand, and is constantly brainstorming projects for the future, he said.
Warm up questions
- What is Braille?
- Have you ever seen Braille? Where did you see it?
Critical thinking questions
- Think of all the places where you see, hear and read the news. Which of these are accessible to a blind person? Which are not? For the outlets that are not accessible, is there a good alternative for blind people?
- What are some of the challenges Banerjee faced in generating interest and funding for his invention?
- Banerjee's invention is unique because it is a lower-cost version of a Braille printer. Who will be able to use this technology now that could not do so before?
