1 hr ago
Student's Voice-Enabled Braille Printer Wins James Dyson Award India
Himaja Lingampalli is an engineering student who wanted to make writing Braille easier.
She saw visually impaired children pressing hard on paper with special tools.
They also had to turn the paper over to read what they wrote.
Her first machine used buttons to choose Braille dots.
Then a student asked why they could not simply speak instead.
Himaja changed the machine so it could listen to spoken words through Alexa.
The machine changes those words into raised Braille patterns.
People can feel and read the printed patterns without turning the paper over.
Her invention, called Rudhra, won an Indian James Dyson Award and may become cheaper in the future.
Himaja Lingampalli developed Rudhra after observing visually impaired students struggle with traditional Braille slates and pins.
A student’s suggestion led her to replace button-based input with voice commands using Alexa.
Rudhra converts spoken words into Braille and prints raised patterns that users can read by touch.
The project won the 2026 James Dyson Award in India and a Rs 6 lakh prize.
The prototype cost about Rs 1.5 lakh, but Himaja estimates a student-focused version could cost Rs 50,000–60,000.
- Who
- Himaja Lingampalli, a fourth-year BTech student at Sri Vishnu Engineering College for Women, developed Rudhra.
- What
- Rudhra is a voice-enabled Braille printing system that converts spoken words into printed Braille.
- Where
- The project was developed at Sri Vishnu Engineering College for Women in India and tested with students at a school for visually impaired children near the college.
- When
- The project took about one-and-a-half to two years to develop and won the 2026 James Dyson Award in India.
- Why
- Himaja wanted to reduce the physical effort and memorization involved in writing and reading Braille with traditional slates and pins.
Key facts
- Inventor
- Himaja Lingampalli
- Invention
- Rudhra, a voice-enabled Braille printing system
- Award
- 2026 James Dyson Award in India
- Prize
- Rs 6 lakh
- Current prototype cost
- About Rs 1.5 lakh
- Estimated student-focused cost
- Rs 50,000–60,000
- Development time
- Approximately one-and-a-half to two years
Quotes
A visually impaired student
A student who tested Himaja Lingampalli’s initial button-based Braille prototype
“Akka, why can’t we just speak instead of pressing these buttons?”
indianexpress.com
Himaja Lingampalli
The BTech student and creator of the Rudhra Braille printer
“Lord Shiva is known as Trinetra — the three-eyed one. His third eye is traditionally a symbol of wisdom, higher knowledge, and an ability to see beyond ordinary perception. My project carries a similar idea: although a visually impaired person may not have conventional sight, Rudhra is designed to open an alternate doorway to knowledge by converting information into Braille that can be read through touch.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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