For years, people with disabilities have been desperately searching for cutting edge technology to assist them with communicating. 13-year-old Shubham Banerjee is on his way to making a substantial impact on the lives of the blind community with a lightweight, low-cost Braille printer.
The eighth-grader is shaking up the industry by incorporating his passion for Legos with his advanced scientific skills. Upon researching how the visually-impaired read for a science fair project, Shubham decided to brainstorm a new invention using a Lego set called Mindstorms EV3. At the Banerjee kitchen table, Shubham developed a printer that translates reading material from an electronic device onto a document in Braille. He then advanced from converting a 3D printer into a newer version of his original model.
His invention would serve a vast populace: an estimated 285 million people around the world are afflicted with some type of vision impairment, according to the World Health Organization.