Indian-origin boy working with Microsoft to launch low-cost Braille printer ‘Braigo’ in November

By NewsGram Staff Writer

Shubham Banerjee, a 13-year-old Indian-origin boy, who had invented a low cost portable Braille printer using his Lego toys, is working with IT giant Microsoft to integrate his invention with Windows to make it easily accessible to the visually impaired.

Shubham is an eighth grade student of Santa Clara school in California. He has already started his own company Braigo Labs, which made him the youngest entrepreneur of the world.

His mother Malini is the president of the company and father Neil is Shubham's mentor.

"I discovered that typical Braille printers cost about $2,000 (about Rs 126,000) or even more, and I felt that was unnecessarily expensive for someone already at a disadvantage," Banerjee said.

"So, I put my brain to work, and the first thing that came to mind was to create an alternative using my favorite toy," he added.

The new printer is cheap and consumer friendly, and is 75% lower in price than that of the existing ones.

He has also got an invitation from Microsoft to showcase his new printer Braigo 2.0.

"Our relationship with Microsoft will help Braigo achieve a seamless experience for a visually-impaired person who wants to use a computer at home or at the office to print documents for offline reading," said Banerjee.

"Also, think about the banks, the government institutions or even the libraries where Windows-based computers are widely used. They will all benefit from having a Braigo to provide accessibility services to their visually impaired customers," he added.

According to a report, the new product will be available in the market soon with a price tag of $500.