How old did you say he is?
Just 13?
At 13, when most children his age are wondering which subjects to take up in high school, Shubham Banerjee, an eighth grader who lives in California, USA, started his own company.
Braigo Labs develops a low-cost machine to print Braille materials for blind people. Braille is the method of writing that helps blind people to read. The printer is the result of a school science project for which he put together Lego robotics kit to make a Braille printer.
It all started when Shubham asked his parents how blind people can read and they gave him the best advice: Google it.
Shubham read up on Braille and found that Braille printers cost US$ 2,000 or more, so most blind people cannot afford them. It is also cumbersome, weighing about 20 pounds.
Shubham believes this is unfair especially to blind people in poorer countries. So, he got going with a Lego kit, working on a simple kitchen table to design his printer.
Shubham hopes to develop a desktop Braille printer that costs around US$ 350 and weighs just a few pounds. Like any other printer, it will be linked to a personal computer or an electronic device.
Braigo has won several awards. It has been given the thumbs up by a number of blind people who have been waiting for an innovation like this. So, last summer, with $35,000 from his father Niloy who in engineer with Intel, he officially started Braigo Labs.
Using a new chip from Intel and a simple desktop printer, he built a more professional version of his printer that now translates electronic text into Braille text, before printing it.
Impressed with this printer, Intel has invested or put in some money into the production of the printer that should be ready for testing this summer.
Still wondering why he chose the name Braigo? Just put together Braille and Lego!
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