Meet Braigo: the low-cost Braille printer made of LEGO® pieces, built by .. (wait for it) .. a 12-year-old boy.

Parents everywhere grew up with LEGO® and know it as a great way to get kids building with their hands.  But, LEGO® has moved on a long way since our days.  I remember the most desirable models in my neighbourhood came from the 1980s era Classic Space collection.

Now of course, kids can choose from Star Wars, City, Harry Potter, Friends and endless other, vastly more sophisticated LEGO® collections.  But LEGO® (and the possibilities) go way beyond that.

Shubham Banerjee (pictured above) is a young kid who grew up in Belgium and then the US.  In January this year, as part of a science fair challenge, he built a working Braille printer using a LEGO® Mindstorms EV3 kit and some extra commonly used hardware.

All up, the printer was built withUS$350 of pieces.  It sounds like a lot of money, but not when you hear that previously, Braille printers cost over US$1,900 each!

An amazing achievement.  What may be most impressive however is what happened next – Shubham decided to open source the innovation, by publishing the software he used and the instructions to build the printer, to encourage as many people as possible to copy it.

At BRICKS 4 KIDZ®, we are passionate about encouraging kids to build unique creations with LEGO® bricks, such as the Braigo.  Have a look at our Programs & Events to see how your child can get involved.

And, check out the tw0 minute instructional video to build Braigo here – it could be a great winter’s day project!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp_QeIpE7Ss[/youtube]

Bravo, Shubham!