Article title: Teenager gets financial backing to make low-cost Braille
printer PC World Nov 4, 2014 12:30 PM

Thirteen-year-old Shubham Banerjee had to borrow money from his parents to
create his first low-cost Braille printer, but he won't need to rely on the
kindness of friends and family for more cash any time soon.

Intel has invested an undisclosed amount in Banerjee's company, Braigo Labs,
providing the funds needed to develop a new Braille printer called Braigo
v2.0. Intel described Banerjee's printer as being disruptive and a
difference-maker.

Banerjee made headlines earlier this year with a homegrown US$349.99 Braille
printer made using Lego parts from a Mindstorm robotics development kit.
Called Braigo, the printer was less expensive than other Braille printers,
which typically go for over $1,000.

The Braille printer started off as an idea for a science-fair project, and
Banerjee had a wider goal to make technology accessible to the visually
impaired. The printer ended up on display at the Maker Faire held at the
White House in June. Braigo v2.0, which uses Intel's low-power Edison
development board, was demonstrated at the Intel Developer Forum in
September.

Banerjee is now developing a more sophisticated version of the Braigo that
looks like a conventional inkjet printer, as opposed to a mesh of Lego
parts. It accepts character input from a device connected to the printer,
which is then printed out in Braille.

In a statement, Banerjee said he'll now be able to work with professionals
to develop and bring Braigo v2.0 to more than 50 million blind people
worldwide. At IDF, he said he hopes to keep the Braille printers affordable.

The "maker" concept--building electronics and robots from scratch--is being
promoted in schools to draw the interest of students in science, technology
and math. Teenagers have shown innovative products like robotic prosthetics
and a 3D pancake printer. Thirteen-year old Sylvia Todd has a hit online
show' "Sylvia's Super-Awesome Maker Show," in which she makes electronics,
robots or even paper rockets, while explaining the science behind it.

The cash infusion in Braigo was part of a larger US$62 million investment
made in 16 companies by Intel Capital on Tuesday. The Braigo investment
aligns with the company's "effort to make everything smart and connected
best with Intel," an Intel spokeswoman said in an email.

The chip maker also invested in wearable companies like Avegant, which is
making a mobile personal theater product called Glyph. Glyph's development
was originally funded through a Kickstarter campaign.

Intel also invested in mobile, hardware and software companies. A standout
is storage virtualization company Israeli company Stratoscale, which was
founded by Ariel Maislos, who previously founded solid-state drive company
Anobit Technologies. Anobit was ultimately acquired by Apple.


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