男孩用樂高設(shè)計盲文打印機

In Silicon Valley, it's never too early to become an entrepreneur. Just ask 13-year-old Shubham Banerjee.

在硅谷，何時成為一個企業(yè)家都不嫌早。看看這個13歲的男孩舒布哈姆·班納吉(Shubham Banerjee)就知道了。

The California eighth-grader has launched a company to develop low-cost machines to print Braille, the tactile writing system for the visually impaired. Tech giant Intel Corp. recently invested in his startup, Braigo Labs.

這位來自加利福尼亞的八年級男孩設(shè)立了一家公司來開發(fā)低成本的布萊葉盲文打印機。布萊葉盲文是為有視覺障礙的人提供的觸覺書寫系統(tǒng)?？萍季揞^英特爾近日也對這個男孩的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司Braigo Labs進行了投資。

Shubham built a Braille printer with a Lego robotics kit as a school science fair project last year after he asked his parents a simple question: How do blind people read? "Google it," they told him.

舒布哈姆曾經(jīng)問他的爸爸媽媽盲人是怎么閱讀的，他們回答是讓他自己到谷歌上搜。后來，在學(xué)校去年的科學(xué)展項目中，他用樂高機器人做了一臺盲文打印機。

Shubham then did some online research and was shocked to learn that Braille printers, also called embossers, cost at least $2,000 — too expensive for most blind readers, especially in developing countries.

再后來，舒布哈姆上網(wǎng)搜索并震驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)，又被稱為壓紋機的盲文打印機售價高達2000美元——對于多數(shù)盲人讀者來說并不便宜，尤其在發(fā)展中國家。

"I just thought that price should not be there. I know that there is a simpler way to do this," said Shubham, who demonstrated how his printer works at the kitchen table where he spent many late nights building it with a Lego Mindstorms EV3 kit.

“我只是覺著價格不合理。而且我知道有種更簡單的方法。”舒布哈姆說。他展示了他的打印機在廚房餐桌上是怎樣工作的。他每天都在餐桌上熬到很晚，用樂高機器人EV3工具包制作出了這臺機器。

Shubham wants to develop a desktop Braille printer that costs around $350 and weighs just a few pounds, compared with current models that can weigh more than 20 pounds. The machine could be used to print Braille reading materials on paper, using raised dots instead of ink, from a personal computer or electronic device.

舒布哈姆想做一款臺式盲文打印機，售價大約350美元，比起現(xiàn)在二十幾磅重的機器，他設(shè)計的機器只有幾磅重。這臺機器可以從個人電腦或其他電子設(shè)施上，用凸起的圓點代替墨將盲文閱讀材料打印到紙上。

"My end goal would probably be having most of the blind people ... using my Braille printer," said Shubham, who lives in the Silicon Valley suburb of Santa Clara, just minutes away from Intel headquarters.

“我的最終目標大概是讓大多數(shù)盲人……都用上我的盲文打印機。”舒布哈姆說。他家住在硅谷郊區(qū)的圣克拉拉，距離英特爾總部僅十分鐘路程。

After the "Braigo" — a name that combines Braille and Lego — won numerous awards and enthusiastic support from the blind community, Banerjee started Braigo Labs last summer with an initial $35,000 investment from his dad.

“Braigo”這個名字是將“Braille”和“Lego”二者結(jié)合起來所得。“Braigo”獲得了眾多獎項以及來自盲人社區(qū)的熱切支持，舒布哈姆去年夏天用來自父親的35000美元投資款創(chuàng)建了Braigo實驗室。

"We as parents started to get involved more, thinking that he's on to something and this innovation process has to continue," said his father, Niloy Banerjee, an engineer who works for Intel.

他的父親尼利·班納吉是英特爾的一名工程師。他說道：“考慮到他很投入這項工作，而且這種創(chuàng)新過程必須繼續(xù)下去，我們做父母的也開始更多地參與。”

Shubham used the money to build a more sophisticated version of his Lego-based printer using an off-the-shelf desktop printer and a newly released Intel computer chip. The new model, Braigo 2.0, can translate electronic text into Braille before printing.

有了這筆錢，舒布哈姆利用一臺閑置的臺式打印機和英特爾新推出的電腦芯片制作了一臺更復(fù)雜的盲文打印機。這款最新的Braigo 2.0可以在打印前將電子文檔翻譯成盲文。

Intel executives were so impressed with Shubham's printer that in November they invested an undisclosed sum in his startup. Intel officials believe he's the youngest entrepreneur to receive venture capital, money invested in exchange for a financial stake in the company.

英特爾的高管們對舒布哈姆的打印機印象十分深刻。十一月時他們投資了舒布哈姆的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，投資總額未被披露。他們相信舒布哈姆是有史以來接受“以錢換股”風(fēng)險投資的最年輕企業(yè)家。

"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," said Edward Ross, director of Inventor Platforms at Intel.

“他解決了一項實際的問題，而且他想要有所改變，打破這個行業(yè)的現(xiàn)狀，這才是關(guān)鍵。”英特爾的創(chuàng)作主管愛德華.羅斯(Edward Ross)說。

Braigo Labs is using the money to hire professional engineers and advisers to help design and build Braille printers based on Shubham's ideas.

Braigo實驗室正用這筆資金招聘專業(yè)工程師和顧問，在舒布哈姆想法的基礎(chǔ)上設(shè)計并制作盲文打印機。

The company aims to have a prototype ready for blind organizations to test this summer and have a Braigo printer on the market later this year, Niloy Banerjee said.

尼利·班納吉表示，這家公司的目標是做出一臺原型機，供盲人機構(gòu)今夏測試，然后在今年晚些時候?qū)⒚の拇蛴C推向市場。

Shubham is too young to be CEO of his own company, so his mother has taken the job, though she admits she wasn't too supportive when he started the project.

舒布哈姆還過于年幼，無法勝任公司的執(zhí)行總監(jiān)，于是他的媽媽擔(dān)任了這一職。雖然媽媽承認舒布哈姆剛開始這個項目時她并不贊成。

"I'm really proud of Shubham. What he has thought, I think most adults should have thought about it," Malini Banerjee said. "And coming out of my 13-year-old, I do feel very proud."

“我真為舒布哈姆感到驕傲。他所想到的，大多成年人本應(yīng)該想到才是。“舒布哈姆的媽媽馬麗妮·班納吉說。“而這個想法來自我13歲的兒子，這真的使我非常自豪。”

Vocabulary

entrepreneur：企業(yè)家

Braille：布萊葉盲文

startup：創(chuàng)業(yè)公司

sophisticated：復(fù)雜的