On 5th March 2017 at a function which was held at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards 2017 were given to the students of IIT Kanpur for developing a prototype of Braille Slate named “Anubhav”. The GYTI Awards are the rewards for the student innovations in all fields of Engineering, Science, Technology and Design through extremely affordable solution.
There were 2715 nominations from 308 institutions and universities from 27 states and two Union Territories across 54 different subject disciplines. 22 innovations were selected for the award and another 17 innovations were selected for appreciation. “Anubhav” is one of the 22 innovations selected for the award.
“Anubhav” is the first device to help visually impaired read and write simultaneously. The idea was to develop 'Anubhav' was initiated by Sachin NP and Vimal Chandru, design programme students who worked under the guidance of Prof Shantanu Bhattacharya. According to them there was no single device that could help the visually impaired read and write simultaneously before this. Sachin, who graduated from IIT-K and is currently working with a German company.
"The award is a reward for our hard work. It will inspire us to do more innovation and bring about a change in society. Technology should be used for the betterment and welfare of society. So we thought of sorting out the issue. The idea was to make a single device that can perform the functions of both the Braille slate and the Taylor's board," said Sachin and Vimal.
About 'Anubhav':
The Braille slate has two polymer-based pads hinged to one side, a single row of metal stencil with Braille cell patterns etched on it and an ergonomic stylus with a hollow cylindrical tube.
'Anubhav' consists of cells with raised dots arranged on a slate and a stencil that slides down vertically from one row to the other. Using the hollow-tube stylus, the raised dots can be embossed on a paper placed between the pads.
"The device has been tested with visually impaired children in Kanpur (Andh Vidyalaya students), and the results have been very encouraging," claimed Sachin, adding, "This project has been in progress for the past one year. 'Anubha' was the result of thorough research. Now, we are trying to approach the state government to make this product available in the market."