Blink — A Deep-tech startup working on a portable Text to Braille interactive device at Nirmaan IIT Madras
“Nirmaan IITM helped us find ourselves, by providing all the necesities and experienced mentors to guide us in our journey and making furthur progress”, said by Blink.
Blink is a Center for Innovation Club project at IITM which is now an active startup team pre-incubated under Nirmaan IITM. Here is a sneak peek into the startup’s journey and achievements !
While we are habitual of having unlimited access to all the world’s resources at our fingertips or in libraries, books, etc. Around 21.9 million differently abled people in india. More than 68.5% of them are visually impaired and also 3 out of 5 special children are visually impaired. About 60% of these cannot afford expensive treatments and visual aids.
So if they want to study they have to use audio content or Braille.
First let’s talk about audio
Today, people are shifting to a lot of alternative sources based on Audio, instead of learning to read Braille.{In the USA, only about 10% of the total visually impaired children read Braille}
But…
- Only a small fraction of all the content worldwide is available as audio!
- Audio is impractical : Alertness of ears is important for visually impaired people, which should not be dimmed by engaging users with audio.
- Audio won’t allow them to explore more content on their own, or step into any field that hasn’t been touched by someone else before!
This would be like tying the wings of birds and teaching them to fly.
So they made A portable device which has a built-in algorithm to convert text to braille in real time & a lot more.
Use-cases -
Education: Students can access the study material more easily.
Internet Access: Helps to connect to the internet and access online resources.
Communication: Improves connectivity with people far off and around.
Information: Information anywhere can be acquired through various modes.
Mobility: Read boards, menu cards, leaflets, etc.
Self- sufficiency: Helps them become a lot more independent.
Uniqueness -
COST SAVING DUE TO MULTI- FUNCTIONALITY
A lower cost than any other device in the market is achieved as no separate camera, internet modules are required
LIMITLESS AND SEAMLESS ACCESS TO CONTENT
Blinker supports scanner-integration, through which the user will be able to read even the books which are not available in the braille language.
EASE OF FEATURE ADDITION IN THE LONG-RUN
Blinker works on a Module basis. Extra modules can be easily integrated to bring in additional features.
“I love reading newspapers but I always needed someone to read it to me. Very excited to see this project come out as a product!”, says Mr. Mahantesh G K President, World Blind Cricket.
“I’ve used the existing products in the market, which in bits and pieces serve the same purpose but having a multiple feature integrated device at such low cost is just fantastic!”, says Ajeez Rahman (HS Student, IIT Madras Assistive tech enthusiast)
“Braille books are bulky and I was never comfortable with using audio content instead of actually being able to read them as they didn’t teach the words fully. It’s wonderful to have such a product launched by my very own institute’s students!” says Vishnu Suresh (IITM HS Student)
Currently they are working on Blinker/Blink-Slate (Refreshable Braille display “Kindle” version for books) and Cube (An assistant to the modern smartphone).
Blinker/Blink-Slate
- Provision of separate module (Add-on) for non-Smartphone users, which can be connected to the device to handle the above-mentioned functionalities
- Connectable to Smartphone and access its Camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, Processing Power, and Battery Power
- Scanner-integration through which the user will be able to read books which are not already available in Braille Script.
- Support for Audio Inputs and Outputs along with USB and Wi-Fi connectivity and easy navigation for the visually impaired
- Refreshable Braille Display Cube
- Refreshable Braille display
- Mini version of Blinker
- Connectable to the phone, can be used to access the contents of the phone for further accessibility
- A camera at the back of the device, which helps ease and increase the field of view for spatial navigation
Other Projects
- Sulabh.in : Accessibility tool for Websites under Smart India Hackathon
- Wallet for the Blind
- Braille Keyboard
Team
Sundar Raman P | Shivesh | Mrunmayi Athavale |Adil Mohammed K |Andrea Elizabeth | Biju Rohith D | Vasudev Gupta |Shivam Maheshwari |B Midhun Varman| Madhan Kumar H | R Narendhiran
Published by :
Gautam Kamlesh Vaja
