Engineering students—Ankit Kumar, Dhruv Gupta and Pulkit Sapra—showcase a project that will help more usage of the Braille electronic device among the visually impared
Braille paper
Thiruvananthapuram: A group of students from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) has bagged the best project at the ninth National Innovation Contest — TechTop 2014 yesterday.
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Till now the blind would either have to print on Braille paper or listen to the text using a software. PIC FOR REPRESENTATION ONLY
Ankit Kumar, Dhruv Gupta and Pulkit Sapra, from the mechanical engineering department, showcased a facility that would help more usage of the Braille display among the visually challenged.
The students got a cash prize of R1 lakh. The two-day event was held at the Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology.
The winners said the idea for this project came after visiting a blind school, Saksham Daksh, in Noida. “Blind people were not able to ‘read’ digital content and have to either print on Braille paper, which was expensive and cumbersome or listen to the text using screen reading software.
The innovation lies in the actuator design using a compliant system based on shape memory alloy (SMA) technology,” they said adding that the new design has reduced the price of the device to less than one-tenth of the current technology. As many as 13 innovative projects on health, travel and agriculture from across the country was exhibited at TechTop-2014.
VK Damodaran, jury chairman of the contest said, “Majority of the projects showcased were focused on humanitarian technologies. Students who have participated this year, have taken efforts to explore new sectors with their projects.”
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