13-year-old invents Braille printer with Lego and gets venture capital funds

A 13-year-old American boy is thought to be the youngest entrepreneur ever to receive venture capital after he invented a Braille printer using Lego. Proving that Silicon Valley wonder kids really are getting younger, Shubham Banerjee had his light-bulb moment after asking his parents how blind people read. The California eighth-grader’s mum and dad told him to Google the answer and he began to read up about Braille, the tactile writing system for the visually impaired. He was surprised to find that Braille printers cost at least £1,300 and weigh a hefty 20lb.

He’s solving a real problem, and he wants to go off and disrupt an existing industry. And that’s really what it’s all about.

Edward Ross, director of Inventor Platforms at Intel

Shubham, of Santa Clara, decided to have a go at building a cheaper, lighter printer as a school science project. He perfected his prototype, using a Lego Mindstorms EV3 robotics kit, working late at night at his kitchen table. ”I just thought that price should not be there,” he told AP news agency. “I know that there is a simpler way to do this.” Shubham wants to deliver a lightweight model that can be sold for £230.

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