Braigo makes Braille printing affordable

Making a printer with a Lego kit, calculator paper, and a thumbtack sounds like the job of MacGyver. But for Shubham Banerjee, these items came together in a science fair project to make an affordable Braille printer.

For the philanthropic seventh grader, $2,000 for a Braille printer just didn’t sound right, so he set forth to make an affordable and easily accessible printer. Using the pattern from an existing printer, putting together an assortment of odds and ends, and modifying hardware and software, Banerjee created Braigo.

While it isn’t the speediest, or completely perfected, Banerjee has shown that with dedication and an open mind, this tech can be made available for a lower price. He is currently working to make the creation open-source, giving access to those who can’t afford an expensive Braille printer, specifically in developing countries. While it began as a science fair project, the real life applications of his gadget may make a sizeable impact in the visually impaired community.

Updates on Braigo are available on the Facebook page set up for the project.