BTech Student Invents Voice-Enabled Braille Printer to Aid Visually Impaired Students

1:09 AM ETDeveloping

Health Desk

In Short: Himaja Lingampalli's innovation, 'Rudhra', won the James Dyson Award in India, aiming to make Braille writing more accessible.

Himaja Lingampalli, a fourth-year BTech student at Sri Vishnu Engineering College for Women, was inspired by a question from a visually impaired student to develop a voice-enabled Braille printing system.

During a visit to a school for visually impaired children, Lingampalli observed students using traditional Braille slates and pins, which required them to turn the sheet over to read the Braille from the reverse side.

This experience made her wonder if technology could simplify the process, leading to the development of 'Rudhra', a voice-enabled Braille printing system.

Unlike the button-based prototype she initially created, 'Rudhra' allows users to feel and read the Braille patterns in their actual form, eliminating the need to reverse the paper.

For now, Lingampalli prioritizes making the technology useful for students and organizations, rather than launching it as a commercial product.

The system addresses the challenges faced by visually impaired students, such as the need to learn and remember the corresponding six-dot patterns that make up Braille characters.

What's still developing

It required students to use push buttons to select the six dots that make up each Braille character.
She began exploring how voice input could be incorporated into the system using Alexa, eventually transforming the button-based prototype into a voice-enabled Braille printing device.
Her idea eventually took shape as ‘Rudhra’, a voice-enabled Braille printing system designed to make Braille writing more accessible.
The innovation has won the James Dyson Award in India for 2026, along with a cash prize of Rs 6 lakh.
Himaja will represent India in the international round of the award.
For Himaja, the visit raised a simple question: could her technical knowledge help reduce some of these difficulties?

Sources

The Indian Expresslink