Himaja wins James Dyson Award for Rudra Braille printer

Engineering student Himaja received the James Dyson Award for the Rudra Braille Printer. The voice-controlled device converts spoken words and notes into Braille. Users can also give voice commands to delete an entry if they make a mistake. A solenoid and microprocessor system embosses the Braille on paper.

The printer is at the testing and prototype stage. Its initial development cost was about ₹1.5 lakh. Himaja and her team are working to make the design more compact and affordable. They aim to bring its cost within ₹50,000 to ₹60,000. Himaja is from Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh; the source does not state where she studies.

Notable Points

• Two-sided embossing: In interpoint embossing, dots on the reverse side sit between the front-side dots. This prevents overlap while reducing paper use and the size of the printed output.
• Electronic Braille machines: The Mountbatten Brailler, developed by Ernest Bate in 1991, combined embossing with word processing and audio feedback; a 2008 version added quiet writing and an erase key. The SMART Brailler followed in 2011 with text-to-speech and digital data capture.