Shubham Banerjee - 'Technology prodigy with golden heart'

Earlier this year, Shubham Banerjee became a notable phenomenon in the technology village with the invention of a Braille printer from a Lego game that was five times cheaper than conventional Braille printers, when she was only 12 years old. . This success has led Intel Capital Investment Fund on November 4 to announce the decision to sponsor start-up capital for Braigo Labs, founded by her, to produce cheap Braille printers for visually impaired people.

>>>12-year-old students make Braille printers from Lego

Shubham, now 13 and in the 8th grade, shared that the idea of ​​the Braigo printer formed when he read a flyer raising money to help the blind of a charity. At that time, Champion schoolboy in San Jose (California) began to care about the difficult life of the visually impaired. When I bring my questions to ask my father how the visually impaired people read the words, Shubham's father just said, "Look up Google . " With special sympathy, Shubham began searching for information on Braille systems and Braille printers for the visually impaired on the Internet. And when it comes to finding that the types of Braille printers on the market are very expensive, up to $ 2,000, Shubham decided to find a way to make it cheaper for the visually impaired.

Shubham technology prodigy and his Braille printer.(Photo: Daily Mail)

After learning about the principle of operation, Shubham started making braille printers called Braigo with materials from Lego assembly toys combined with some computer components and software. Organizations and support for visually impaired people in the US highly appreciate the potential of Braille printers invented by Indians. They think that they can help the blinds better access to literature and news, as well as improve the rate of reading comprehension of Braille, which accounts for only about 8.5% of the 60,000 blind children in the flag state. - according to the data of the Blind House in the US. Shubham boy became increasingly the focus of the media. "Technology prodigy with golden heart" is a story shared around the world.

With Braigo, Shubham has been traveling around the country to introduce people to the product. Last summer, she received an invitation to attend the Young Creators Fair held at the White House. In particular, she also received the 2014 honor award for technology from the Advanced Technology Museum, 2014 OPEN Silicon Valley's Young Creative Award, and was honored in the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. (APAHM). In addition, Shubham was invited to attend a technology conference in India and the Global Intel Capital Summit on November 4 in California, where she received an Intel sponsorship announcement.

Although successful, Shubham said he continues to explore to upgrade this low-cost Braille printer. My latest product is Braigo 2.0, not a Braille printer from lego toys but a real consumer product, which uses Intel's latest Edison chip. Braigo Labs plans to sell products for only $ 350. Not only that, he is still working hard to turn Braigo into an open source project through which everyone can create their own Braigo printer. Shubham hopes, his invention can inspire and help developing countries - where people can hardly own a costly Braille printer.

The investment decision of Intel Capital Investment Fund has helped Shubham become the youngest technology entrepreneur to receive funding from Intel Technology Group, although the specific amount has not been disclosed. Even many newspapers also identified the boy who was "usurped" by British businessman Nick D'Aloisio (2 years older than Shubham), once the youngest technology entrepreneur in the world to be funded with start-up applications. Read the news in 2011. Nick's company Summly was later acquired by Yahoo for a price of up to $ 30 million.

Unlike many young entrepreneurs who often abandon their educational path to get into business, Shubham insists that he will continue to complete his school education and only study after school.

Reference: Daily Mail