This year, 14-year-old Yash Mehta flew to Old Delhi, India to visit his grandfather, who helps run a school for the blind.
During his visit, Mehta questioned why none of the students had access to modern electronic braille readers. He was told that most braille readers cost upwards of $3,000 (with some priced as high as $15,000).
As he reeled from the high price, a lightbulb went off in Mehta’s brain: He wanted to make an electronic braille reader that anyone could afford.
His original goal? Make a model that costs less than $50.
In the end, he invented a small model that cost $20 and a larger model priced at $35.
In his project submission video for Society for Science — which hosts an annual STEM competition called the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge — Mehta showed off his invention and explained the importance of expanding access to braille readers.
“This is crucial, because there are currently 36 million visually impaired individuals around the world, and this number is projected to increase by 55% over the next 30 years,” Mehta explained.
“Additionally, 89% of blind individuals live in low and medium income countries, where access to braille is very limited.”
Citing a study by the National Federation of the Blind, Mehta also pointed out that 1.3 million people in the United States alone are severely visually impaired — and 31.2% of those people live below the poverty line.
A shortage of qualified teachers and a growing reliance on text-to-speech technology has greatly reduced the population of individuals who can read braille, but the cost of braille readers is an added barrier that discourages education and adoption.
In fact, only 10% of blind Americans can read braille.
“Reducing the cost of braille displays is critical to making education more accessible for everyone,” Mehta said.
In his video, Mehta explained that braille “cells” consist of six dots arranged in two columns and three rows, and every combination of dots corresponds with letters, numbers, math symbols, and even musical notes.
Mehta went on to say that it’s not simply a matter of users opting out of electronic devices to curtail costs because books written in braille can be “six times” more expensive than a typical book, due to the specialized manufacturing process involved.
Conversely, electronic braille readers have the benefit of reusability — but that initial price point is still a non-starter for most users.
“Braille displays are expensive because they rely on piezoelectric crystals, which require complex hardware, driving up costs and leading to mechanical failures,” Mehta said, showing how he used readily available parts like motor drives and brush motors to optimize the cost of his model.
Another problem Mehta wanted to address was the lack of accessibility in typical braille readers when it came to individuals with decreased sensitivity in their hands and fingertips.
With this in mind, he fine-tuned his models with a potentiometer — a small instrument that could allow users to increase the speed, vibration, and pressure of their device.
After finalizing his invention, Mehta put it to the test against 29 other finalists at the Thermo Fisher Scientific JIC in Washington, D.C. in late October — and emerged with a first-place technology award.
Encouraged by his win, Mehta hopes to patent his invention and make it even better.
His current model can translate computer text into braille letters, but he wants to add optical character recognition which would allow his invention to also translate printed text and handwritten notes.
“I would probably go back to the Blind Relief Association and get more feedback with my new prototype,” Mehta told Science News Explores in early November, saying that his biggest asset has been community support.
“I think that’s the most important part — getting first-hand feedback.”
Header image via Kristina Tsvetanova, Slavi Slavev / BLITAB Technology GmbH (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
