A 13-year-old built a LEGO Braille printer to make reading more affordable |

Image of Shubham Banerjee| Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

An American teenager, at the age of just 13, used Lego blocks to build a Braille printer that was cheap enough to manufacture for blind and partially sighted people who would find the existing embossers costly. This invention, known as Braigo, gained prominence in no time owing to the fact that it offered a solution to a real-life problem using such a simple and easily comprehensible design.According to reporting by Wharton Global Youth Program, Shubham Banerjee began researching Braille after coming across information about visual impairment and wondering how blind people read printed text. During that research, he discovered that standard Braille printers, also known as embossers, often cost thousands of dollars. That price became the centre of the problem he wanted to solve.A school-age project built around a real-world needBraigo stood out because it wasn’t framed as a toy experiment. The creator of Braigo, Banerjee, concentrated on making the product affordable from the start. According to reports, the product started off as being made from a Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot, which was then estimated to retail for about $350, which was then more than most commercially available Braille embossers.According to the University of Colorado Boulder’s Braille resource page, Braille embossers are essential assistive tools that convert text into tactile dots for tactile reading. These devices are widely used by blind and low-vision readers, but their cost can make access difficult for schools, families and smaller organisations.This helped in understanding the reasons why Banerjee’s idea gained popularity. The idea was such that one could easily imagine what it was all about. However, the problem surrounding the idea was a serious matter: inexpensive printing could mean increased accessibility, among other things.Why the Lego design matteredOne reason why Braigo was popular is that it could be easily distinguished as being constructed from familiar materials. The use of Lego blocks suggested that something novel but not complicated was being attempted, rather than an industrial engineering masterpiece. Reportedly, Banerjee chose Lego blocks to enable quick, inexpensive prototyping of movement and mechanics.The visual simplicity of the machine also made it easier for people to relate to the broader problem of accessibility. Rather than seeming like another technological product that could not be easily understood, the machine seemed approachable. Moreover, according to reports, the initial prototype of Braigo was quite lightweight at a mere few pounds, significantly lighter than some of its contemporaries.

Shubham Banerjee working on his lego robotics braille printer at his home in Santa Clara, California| Image Credit: AP

The project quickly moved beyond a Science fairThe Braigo project started out as a project for a school science fair, but quickly garnered interest from the industrial sector, too. Braigo Labs, which was spun off from the project, received financial support from Intel Capital for creating prototypes.Banerjee subsequently developed Braigo 2.0 using the Intel Edison processor and a modified desktop printer to convert the text electronically into Braille before printing. There is extensive coverage of the Braigo project, but much of it revolves around Banerjee’s age. However, what makes the coverage on Braigo interesting is that it actually addresses a gap in assistive technology solutions. Many industrialists have pointed out that the device is actually an attempt to reinvent an expensive system. And that’s really intriguing.Affordability became the central ideaThe strongest part of the Braigo story was the focus on access rather than invention alone. Technology can be sophisticated, but it will not have much of an impact unless its users can actually use it without being hindered by financial barriers. In other words, Braigo managed to make affordability an engineering objective.One of the key things that Banerjee emphasised was his desire to produce an affordable Braille printer for those who really need one. At the same time, reports indicated that he learned Braille during his research, which shows that Banerjee approached his task in a very user-oriented manner despite his young age.In other words, empathy, curiosity, and a practical approach made the Braigo story so fascinating.