Himaja with her invention
Hyderabad: A question from a visually impaired student prompted 20-year-old Lingampalli Himaja to rethink how people with visual impairments write in Braille. Developed with the support of the college and components sourced from a robotics company and online suppliers, the prototype cost around ₹1.5 lakh. Himaja said the cost could be reduced to ₹50,000-60,000 by simplifying the design.
“I noticed a girl struggling to write Braille using the traditional slate-and-stylus method,” she said, adding that it requires users to punch dots into paper and read the letters from the reverse side. She said she is now working to make the device more compact and advanced, while exploring the patenting process. Himaja’s idea took shape during a visit to a school for visually impaired students organised by her college. With guidance from her college faculty, she developed an initial prototype that used six push buttons arranged in the standard Braille pattern. A Raspberry Pi processor interpreted the input, and a solenoid punched the corresponding dots onto paper in reverse, allowing the user to read the letters in their normal orientation. Himaja recalled the time when she took the prototype back to the school to gather feedback: one student posed a question that changed the direction of her project: “Why should I type when I can speak? The device also repeats the spoken input for confirmation before printing.
Today, the fourth-year student of Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women has developed RUDHRA, a voice-enabled printer that converts spoken words into Braille.
