IIIT-B creates technology to enable blind pupils and strives to encourage diversity
A 2022 article in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology indicated that there are around 4.95 million blind people and 70 million vision-impaired people in India, with 0.24 million of them people being blind youngsters. However, as students from the International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIIT-B) developed a first-of-its-kind technology to help vision-impaired students get a seamless learning experience in physical classrooms, this number may soon become less of a barrier for the visually impaired.
In addition to developing this low-cost technology to support inclusivity in all educational institutions, Mayank Kabra, a final-year M.Teach student, collaborated with his peers Divyansh Singhal, Chinmay Sultania, Soham Pawar, and Anshul Maduwar. Kabra also received a patent for the “System and method for assisting the visually impaired.”
Many visually impaired children nowadays are unable to complete their education in schools alongside their peers because of their condition. According to Kabra, there are currently no remedies; one must either buy an expensive gadget, pursue independent study, or give up on their education, as reported by TNIE. He continued by saying that their goal was to solve this problem and make learning easier for those who are blind or visually challenged.
“The goal was to develop a tool that would enable the blind to follow along with lecturers during in-person lectures. The hardware for the technique employs a digital board and is worn on the finger. The board seems to be practically mapped on any flat surface that the learner touches with his or her finger. They will be able to trace the shapes of the diagrams, figures, or text on the digital board with the aid of the finger device’s vibration, according to Kabra.
Tiny motors and microcontrollers, together with a six-dot braille system, power the gadget. It weighs the same as an oximeter from the COVID-19 pandemic. He went on to say that the device’s braille dots let the user comprehend the text in real time. To transmit information, these devices will be linked via the local board or Wi-Fi. The group has been developing the gadget for about a year. According to Kabra, comparable products on the market are priced above Rs 50,000, but this one would be affordable and available to all societal classes.
The finger-mounted gadget was designed with schoolchildren in mind, since they are the ones who discontinue their formal education at the highest rate. With the conviction that it would only need minor modifications and that kids could activate it with a single button push, the IIIT-B team is considering testing it in a few schools and non-governmental organizations. The group is searching for partners to assist them in mass producing the gadget and releasing it to the public.
