IIT-Kanpur Alumni Awarded for Developing Braille Slate for Visually Impaired

Sachin NP and Vimal Chandru of the prestigious IIT-Kanpur have been awarded the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award-2017 for the prototype of a Braille slate that they developed. The students were honoured with the award at Rashtrapati Bhawan on March 5, 2017.

Sachin NP and Vimal Chandru were mentored for this project by Prof Shantanu Bhattacharya. The prototype of a Braille is called ‘Anubhav’ that will help the visually impaired individuals to read and write simultaneously.

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It comprises two polymer-based pads hinged to one side along with a single row of metal stencil with Braille cell patterns imprinted on it. It also has an ergonomic stylus with a hollow cylindrical tube. The innovators claim that there is no other similar product in the market.

Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times

Talking about the idea of the slate, Sachin and Vimal said that they wanted to come up with a product that would perform the functions of a Braille slate and Taylor’s board simultaneously that would enable synchronized reading and writing for the visually impaired.

The device has been tested with Kanpur-based visually impaired children and provided very encouraging results. The project was completed after a year’s hard work and research. The idea is to approach the government with this product and launch it in the market, said Sachin.

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GYTI Awards are conducted to encourage innovation done by students in fields like engineering, design, science and technology. Sachin and Vimal’s product was one of the 2,715 nominations that were made from 308 institutions and universities across 54 different subjects.