Have you ever dreamed or either wondered of establishing an enterprise and turn out as an entrepreneur, that too to at Silicon Valley? No. Then you ought to know about Subham Banerjee who started his own firm at Silicon Valley at a young age of 13. What astonishes everyone is that Tech Giant Intel invested into his company which may turn out his business as a giant to in Silicon Valley.
Braigo Labs Printer – Revolutionary Change in Braille Learning
Shubham Banerjee lives in California and is studying eighth grade, sprang up a low cost machines to print Braille which is a haptic writing system for the blind scholars and visually impaired. Later this inspired and made him to dream of starting a company of his own so called Braigo Labs. Initially the printer to print the Braille was developed for a school science fair project last year with a Lego robotics kit which started with his simple question asked by him to his parents stating that “How do blind people read?” “Google it,” they told said.
After going through a preliminary research in online over this question it made him to surprise to see that the existing Braille Printers which are called as embossers cost at least $2,000 (Rs 123,580) which turns out as too hefty affordable cost to the visually impaired making it difficult for most of them to continue their education particularly in developing countries. Master Subham Banerjee who strived hard and spent many late nights at the kitchen table in his house demonstrating his Braigo Printers functionality which was built using a Lego Mindstorms EV3 kit responded as “I just thought that price should not be there. I know that there is a simpler way to do this,” when he was asked about what aspired him to do this.
As Subham Banerjee said his motive was to build a desktop Braille printer which would cost not more than $350 and should weigh just a few pounds which could make difference when compared with the current market version printers. The current available braille printers so-called embossers weight more than 20 pounds (nine kilograms) which makes the visually impaired a tough job to operate the printer. What makes the Braigo Labs printer so special is that it can be used to print Braille reading materials on paper, using raised dots instead of ink, from a personal computer or electronic device. Shubham Banerjee’s Braigo Labs has won accolades and numerous awards from the blind community for inventing and user friendly printer for them, which has been named after combining the initial letters of Braille and Lego printers, was started with an initial investment of $35,000 last summer. Shubham who lives in the Silicon Valley suburb of Santa Clara, just minutes away from Intel headquarters says that “My end goal would probably be having most of the blind people … using my Braille printer.”
Shubham Banerjees CEO of Silicon Valley Company:
Shubham Banerjees father, Niloy Banerjee, who is an engineer and works for Intel said that “We as parents started to get involved more, thinking that he’s on to something and this innovation process has to continue.” Shubham Banerjee used an off-the-shelf desktop printer and a newly released Intel computer chip to build a best possible advanced version of Lego-based printer with his initial investment and it worked efficiently where the Braigo 2.0 new model can translate the electronic text into Braille before printing. Braigo’s invention by Shubham won the hearts of Intel executives who invested a yet undisclosed sum in his startup in the month of November last year. Reportedly, Shubham Banerjee is the youngest entrepreneur to receive venture capital, money invested in exchange for a financial stake in the company as per the Intel officials. Director of Inventor Platforms at Intel Edward Ross said proclaimed that “Shubham is indeed solving a real problem, and he wants to go off and disrupt an existing industry. And that’s really what it’s all about.”
Prototype of Braigo Labs Printer to be Released this Summer
Investments made into the company, Braigo Labs is being used to hire professional engineers and advisers to help design and build Braille printers based on Shubham’s ideas to revolutionize the way of learning for the visually impaired across the world. Niloy Banerjee said, Braigo Labs aims at constructing a prototype, standard, typical constructive printer model which couls easily serve the purposes of the visually impaired and is plans to test this summer and make it available in the market by the end of the year.
Henry Wedler, who is blind and working on a doctorate in chemistry at the University of California, Davis says that “This Braille printer is a great way for people around the world who really don’t have many resources at all to learn Braille and to use it practically and I am glad to be associated with such novel innovations and turn out as advisor.” Lisamaria Martinez who is a community services director at the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind which is a nonprofit center that serves the visually impaired and prints Braille materials for public agencies says that “Braigo Labs printer allows the visually impaired to users to print out letters, household labels, shopping lists and short reading materials on paper in Braille at affordable cost. I love the fact that a young person is thinking about a community that is often not thought about. Being an visually impaired person I feel very proud of Shubham who is concerned about a community which is often ignored.”
Malini Banerjee. Shubham Banerjess’ mother, took the responsibility of his son overtaking the Braido Labs ideals as CEO as Shubham is too young to be CEO of his own company admitting the fact that she wasn’t too supportive when he started the project. The blessed mother of Shubham says that she is really proud of him as what he has thought was never even concerned most adults and many of the adults should have thought about it very rarely which makes her feel more proud. Shubham Banerjee All India Round Up wishes you best wishes and bravo dear you have done a tremendous job which necessitates the needy.