Live Braille

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Live Braille: The next revolution in blind's 'Sight'

Panchkula, Hong Kong S.A.R., ChinaPanchkula, India
Year Founded:
2014
Organization type: 
for profit
Project Stage:
Start-Up
Budget: 
$250,000 - $500,000
Website:
http://www.livebraille.com
Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/livebraille
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

Live Braille aims to take blind navigation to an entirely new level with a robust, and practicable technology in the form of glove which claims to provide incredible navigation speeds to the blind. "We want to do what Microsoft and Mac did to the computer industry".

WHAT IF - Inspiration: Write one sentence that describes a way that your project dares to ask, "WHAT IF?"

you see a visually impaired running across a series of obstacles ?
About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

Live Braille directly addresses 38 million completely blind and 110 million with severely impaired vision on the planet(WHO statistics) who still use the trivial tools such as white cane for navigation. The problem lies in the direction of innovation which over years has not been able to economically, practically and ergonomically replace the white cane and the trust the blind people have on it.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

The key value proposition of the technology is to develop a glove based haptic feedback navigation system with unmatchable navigation speeds being provided to the visually impaired yet humble by providing room for multiple third party assistive, communication and ergonomic technologies to be strapped on. Essentially replacing the white cane and creating a semi-open source platform. The glove does not affect any senses such as hearing unlike competitive technologies with audio feedback ad does not even affect the dexterity hence no occupied hands! With easy strap on technology; thanks to conductive Velcro and wireless conduction Live Braille allows more third party technologies to be attached by a simple strap on!
Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

The following video give a glimpse of the capabilities Live Braille imparts to a visually impaired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wuR6ZEmNHM The Device actually performs and this is proven by extraordinary capabilities it imparts to the blind to bring him quite close to the 'ordinary person'. The blind can actually walk past a series of obstacles including potholes, bumps and stains(stairs currently under testing) without any issues. It is again a stunning statement that no device for what ever price point can actually match Live Braille in speed of navigation.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.

The device has been tested on over 54 subjects pan India and in Hong Kong and proved it's capability with numerous awards globally. Considering one of our target countries there are over 100,000 blinds in Hong Kong out of which mere 1% make more than HK$20K monthly where as more than 50% ordinary people make over HK$20K. By making the blind self independant in terms of navigation we look forward to take that 1% to 10% and this itself is a big task. We are very confident about our goal with the solid technology in hand and it's shear scalability and with the above objective complete it is astonishing that the monthly income of the blind people as a community goes up by HK$180 Million. This is itself a major impact in human empowering. In coming 10 years we look forward to scale up Live Braille to over 20 countries with indigenous units targeting to create a Billion dollar change!

Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?

Live Braille directly addresses 38 million completely blind and 110 million with severely impaired vision on the planet(WHO statistics) who still use the trivial tools such as white cane for navigation. the global annual loss in gross domestic product from blindness and low vision in 2000 was estimated at between $19,223 million and $22,764 million With Live Braille we look forward to make the visually impaired capable enough to walk up to a workplace safely and make a daily earning. This $99 technology has the capability to create a Billion dollar global change in the next 10 years.
Sustainability

Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?

Live Braille is close to completion of it's first round of funding of $200,000 by september end. With added support from Government and NGOs we are confident enough to generate a pan India change but we definitely look forward to go global in the next 2 years.

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

The market is currently flooded with copious untested technologies distributed at exorbitant rates by resellers with a USP of shear monopoly in the market. There is surprisingly no standard technology being used globally other then the white cane invented in the 1930s by Lion George A. Bonham. There are certain technologies like guide dogs specific to the rich and audio feedback technologies with a major drawback of exorbitant price, hampering of hearing and hampering dexterity of the users limbs.
Team

Founding Story

Live Braille was initially founded by Abhinav S Verma. The idea, the thought and the emotion behind the innovation is well explained in the TEDx video. The team was joined by Ankit Khurana (initially a mentor); student of University of Leeds to take the project ahead at an international front which was followed by the first victory of the venture winning the award for second best innovation for the visually impaired all over Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong itself awarded by iMechE UK.

Team

Live Braille was initially founded by Abhinav S Verma leading research scholar at Chitkara University. The team was joined by Ankit Khurana (initially a mentor); student of University of Leeds to take the project ahead at an international. The project was then joined by Nikhil churamani Head at Steinbeis - IamSMEofIndia Centre for Technology and Innovation to promote technology in India.
About You
Organization:
Ein Labs
About You
First Name

Abhinav

Last Name

Verma

About Your Project
Organization Name

Ein Labs

How long has your organization been operating?

Project
Organization Country

, HR, Panchkula

Country where this project is creating social impact
What awards or honors has the project received?
Funding: How is your project financial supported?

NGOs, Businesses, Regional government.

Supplemental
Sector

Health and Hygiene.

Audience: Who have you identified as your customer/recipient groups and do these groups value your solution for different reasons? How do you engage different customer/recipient groups to deliver your solution?

Live Braille directly addresses 38 million completely blind and 110 million with severely impaired vision on the planet according to WHO statistics who still use the trivial tools such as white cane for navigation. Blindness is still increasing by one to two million cases a year and yet there has been less done in this sector!
Live Braille comes as a ray of hope by creating a new platform for the visually impaired by providing assistive navigation technology that is economical, ergonomic and reliable.

Scaling the solution: How would the prize money and publicity help you to achieve your objectives over the next two years?

We are targeting a huge audience and most importantly a global social issue. There are millions of blind who can not afford imported and expensive technology. We want to reach the grass root level and eradicate the helplessness and plight the issue of blindness causes; GLOBALLY.
Unfortunately the above statements seem to be quite contradicting without funds in hand and a public know how of technology. We firstly are currently engaged in expensive research to cut costs to bring the price of the unit down to $99 and establish indigenous manufacturing plants to cut on logistics. We need funds to manufacture and ship free samples to communities globally. We also need to spread the word in a community which has less access to social networks.

Experience: Please provide examples of any previous entrepreneurial initiatives you have pioneered

Live Braille has been our first global entrepreneurial initiative so far. But we definitely have a concrete technology to build upon. Live Braille has been awarded with various awards in the US, Hong Kong and India. It has been identified as the second best innovation for the blind all over Asia pacific in Hong Kong by iMechE UK.
Live Braille has been featured on TED and awarded the TiEGER award by TiE group.

Are you are eligible to attend the Accelerator event in Cambridge and subsequent events in London, UK in January, 2015?

yes

Will you require a visa to enter the UK?

Are you are a current Unilever employee?