Shubham Banerjee works on his lego robotics braille printer at home
In Silicon Valley, it’s never too early to become an entrepreneur. Just ask 13-year-old Shubham Banerjee.
The California eighth-grader has launched a company to develop
low-cost machines to print Braille, the tactile writing system for the
visually impaired. Tech giant Intel Corp. recently invested in his
startup, Braigo Labs.
Shubham built a Braille printer with a Lego robotics kit as a school
science fair project last year after he asked his parents a simple
question: How do blind people read? “Google it,” they told him.
Shubham then did some online research and was shocked to learn that
Braille printers, also called embossers, cost at least $2,000 _ too
expensive for most blind readers, especially in developing countries.
Banerjee launched a company to develop a low-cost machine to print Braille materials for the blind.
“I just thought that price should not be there. I know that there is a
simpler way to do this,” said Shubham, who demonstrated how his printer
works at the kitchen table where he spent many late nights building it
with a Lego Mindstorms EV3 kit.
Shubham wants to develop a desktop Braille printer that costs around
$350 and weighs just a few pounds, compared with current models that can
weigh more than 20 pounds (nine kilograms). The machine could be used
to print Braille reading materials on paper, using raised dots instead
of ink, from a personal computer or electronic device.
“My end goal would probably be having most of the blind people …
using my Braille printer,” said Shubham, who lives in the Silicon Valley
suburb of Santa Clara, just minutes away from Intel headquarters.
After the “Braigo” _ a name that combines Braille and Lego _ won
numerous awards and enthusiastic support from the blind community,
Banerjee started Braigo Labs last summer with an initial $35,000
investment from his dad.
“We as parents started to get involved more, thinking that he’s on to
something and this innovation process has to continue,” said his
father, Niloy Banerjee, an engineer who works for Intel.
Shubham Banerjee, center left, works on a prototype for his braille
printer joined by his family including mom Malini, left, sister
Anoushka, 8, center right, and dad Neil, right, at home Tuesday, Jan. 6,
2015, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo)
Shubham used the money to build a more sophisticated version of his
Lego-based printer using an off-the-shelf desktop printer and a newly
released Intel computer chip. The new model, Braigo 2.0, can translate
electronic text into Braille before printing.
Intel executives were so impressed with Shubham’s printer that in
November they invested an undisclosed sum in his startup. Intel
officials believe he’s the youngest entrepreneur to receive venture
capital, money invested in exchange for a financial stake in the
company.
“He’s solving a real problem, and he wants to go off and disrupt an
existing industry. And that’s really what it’s all about,” said Edward
Ross, director of Inventor Platforms at Intel.
Braigo Labs is using the money to hire professional engineers and
advisers to help design and build Braille printers based on Shubham’s
ideas.
Shubham Banerjee, right, world on his Lego robotics braille printer as
his dad Neil watches at home Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, in Santa Clara,
Calif. (AP Photo)
The company aims to have a prototype ready for blind organizations to
test this summer and have a Braigo printer on the market later this
year, Niloy Banerjee said.
“This Braille printer is a great way for people around the world who
really don’t have many resources at all to learn Braille and to use it
practically,” said Henry Wedler, who is blind and working on a doctorate
in chemistry at the University of California, Davis. Wedler has become
an adviser to Braigo Labs.
An affordable printer would allow the visually impaired readers to
print out letters, household labels, shopping lists and short reading
materials on paper in Braille, said Lisamaria Martinez, community
services director at the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind, a
nonprofit center that serves the visually impaired and prints Braille
materials for public agencies.
“I love the fact that a young person is thinking about a community
that is often not thought about,” said Martinez, who is visually
impaired.
Shubham is too young to be CEO of his own company, so his mother has
taken the job, though she admits she wasn’t too supportive when he
started the project.
“I’m really proud of Shubham. What he has thought, I think most
adults should have thought about it,” Malini Banerjee said. “And coming
out of my 13-year-old, I do feel very proud.”