Braille Literacy Device Giving Students the Power to Self-Educate Anywhere

Imagine learning braille for the first time in your life from a teacher that doesn’t have special education training, maybe even learning braille without an educator at all. 

This is the reality for many visually impaired youth and blind braille learners across the globe, but especially in India where the braille literacy rate is 1%. 

A team of innovators at Thinkerbell Labs has reimagined what is possible across the globe. Their product, Annie, is a self-learning braille literary device that helps users learn to read, write, and type in braille through audio-guided content, in their mother tongue Annie’s namesake is Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller’s life-long instructor.

Aman Srivastava, Co-Founder at Thinkerbell Labs, explains the hurdles students experience attaining braille literacy. 

“In India, the braille literacy rates are low because of the lack of trained special educators and because students are dispersed around the country. Only the largest cities have the proper educators.” 

Srivastava adds, “In the US and the UK, there are special educators, but the caseloads are incredibly high and the method of teaching is old.” 

In addition to these factors, hiring private special education teachers can be expensive and unreachable for some families. To address these challenges directly, Annie (with a US variant named Polly), is taking an internet-agnostic approach to teach youth braille. 

“Annie is similar to a laptop. The screen has braille that forms, which a child can feel. Students learn dot combos first and then they move to standardized braille. In the middle of the device is a typing module that is similar to a laptop keyboard,” says Srivastava.

“Teachers have never seen something like this before. When teachers tested Annie with us, they told us it was even fun for them to play with,” says Gauri Malaviya, Lead Partnerships at Thinkerbell Labs.

Each Annie and Polly user has a special login, which operates similarly to the Kindle Cloud Reader so students can use content offline. Users log in, download educational content like games and lessons when the internet is accessible, play with Annie offline, and their data is automatically stored for educators to analyze progress over time. 

Currently, Annie is most widely used in India. The devices are present in nearly 100 education centers where approximately 50 students learn at each center. The Thinkerbell Labs team has even received offers on Shark Tank India. Polly made its debut in the United States in 2022 and was named as one of TIME’s best inventions of the year.

Only 10% of the US population who are legally blind are also braille literate and the Covid-19 pandemic made it even more critical for students to have learning devices at home. Thinkerbell Labs has partnered with the American Printing House and soon, Polly will be accessible in all 50 states. 

“We hope to launch this for everyone by March 2023,” says Srivastava.

“The industry has been lagging but we’re improving it. Annie is alive; it gives teachers reports and it is directly impacting students. A child in India said, ‘Annie doesn’t scold me.’ It’s small aspects about the device that get children excited. Annie never gets tired of children. It’s patient and plays again and again,” Srivastava says.

Want to learn more about world changing solutions like Annie in-person? Join us during Solve at MIT May 4-6. Request your invitation here.