13-Year-Old Who Built Braille Printer Using LEGO Hopes to Have His Invention on the Market Later this Year

13-year-old Shubham Banerjee might not be able to run his company full-time yet (Banerjee’s mother has taken on CEO duties for his startup), but he’s already invented a product that could have a huge impact on the lives of the blind.

While doing research for his school science fair last year, the Silicon Valley eighth-grader was shocked to discover that Braille printers (also called embossers) cost at least $2,000. Concerned that the prohibitive cost of these printers might isolate low-vision readers (especially in developing countries), Banerjee used a LEGO robotics kit to build a cheap and effective alternative: “I just thought that price should not be there. I know that there is a simpler way to do this.”

Banerjee’s “Braigo” printer won awards and support from the blind community, prompting him to start Braigo Labs last summer using a $35,000 investment from his father, an Intel engineer. In November, Intel also invested an undisclosed amount in the startup; according to the Associated Press, Intel’s investment will make Banerjee the youngest entrepreneur to ever receive venture capital.

Braigo Labs plans to use Intel’s investment to hire engineers and advisers, with the aim of having a new Braigo printer ready for testing this summer and on the market late this year. Banerjee’s ideal final product would weigh less than a few pounds (a typical embosser weighs around 20 pounds), cost approximately $350, and translate electronic text into Braille.

According to Lisamaria Martinez, community services director at the San Francisco nonprofit center Lighthouse for the Blind, an affordable and easily transportable printer will give low-vision readers the freedom to print grocery lists and other smaller pieces of text: “I love the fact that a young person is thinking about a community that is often not thought about.”

Henry Wedler, a blind adviser to Braigo Labs, says Banerjee’s product will also assist readers in learning Braille:

This Braille printer is a great way for people around the world who really don’t have many resources at all to learn Braille and to use it practically.

(image via Pierre Lecourt on Flickr)

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