Tadar Anang: Teen Scientist from Arunachal Pradesh who Developed Goggles for the Blind
Tadar Anang! Not many are familiar with the name of this teenage scientist and innovator from Arunachal Pradesh of the Northeast. He is currently a student of Class 12. He innovated and developed a smart assisting goggle for the blind. This unique device called Goggle for Blind (G4B) uses ultrasound and infrared sensors to help visually impaired detect obstacles on their path.
Belonging to a family of farmers, Tadar Anang was more interested in researching things, unlike the boys of his age during his chidhood. He was born to Tadar Togung and Tadar Roi at Rayo in Nirjuli village of Papum Pare, Arunachal Pradesh.
Tadar Anang is a student of New Galaxy Academy, Nirjuli. He has been asked by the National Innovation Foundation, a body of the Department of Science and Technology, to create a few prototypes for the visually impaired to test.
Goggle for Blind (G4B) helps the visually impaired detect any obstacles on all sides within a distance of two metres. Tadar Anang has used the principle of echolocation as used by bats at night. There are two ultrasound sensors on the left and right of the goggles to detect obstacles. The gadget also comes equipped with an infrared sensor in the middle. If both the ultrasound sensors fail, the infrared sensors help detect obstacles. When an obstacle is detected, a beep sound is generated, which the wearer hears through the audio output along with vibration and gets alerted.
Tadar Anang has been awarded with the Dinanath Pandey Smart Idea Innovation Award and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards 2017 for his invention. He been selected to attend the 3rd BRICS Young Scientist Conclave, to be held at Durban in South Africa from June 25 to 29 2018. He is one among 24 out of 350 odd applicants from the country shortlisted for the event and nominated by National Innovation Foundation (NIF). The theme for the 3rd BRICS Young Scientist Forum is “Building BRICS Youth Leadership through Science, Technology and Innovation”.
Here is an excerpt of an interview of Tadar Anang taken by Manoshi Sinha, Editor of My India My Glory e-magazine.
What motivated you to develop this idea?
Tadar Anang: The idea of developing the device first came to my mind when I saw a helpless blind woman asking me for direction, after which it made me into thinking what it feels to be a blind living in complete darkness. And after thorough research and development I brought the idea into a shape of a goggle.
How did this idea strike you first?
Tadar Anang: The use of echolocation by the bats inspire me to develop this idea. As they can navigate around their surrounding with ease with the help of echolocation.
Please tell us more about G4B
Tadar Anang: The device G4B (goggle for blind) is a smart device which will have the blind navigate around in their environment with ease. This device uses the principle of the echolocation used by the bats to detect and locate the obstacle which lies in front of the wearer and alarms the wearer of the obstacle with vibration or audible feedback.
It detects and locates obstacles with the help of the ultrasonic sensors and processes the information with the help of the microprocessor and gives the wearer a vibration feedback / audible feedback based on the location of the object and the distance of the object.
What is your plan to take this idea/innovation forward?
Tadar Anang: I have been working on several prototypes already. I want a finished product of it as efficient as it can be. And I will try to make it better with the best of my knowledge. Through this device I may not give an eye to the blind people but at the least I would like to help them ease their navigation in the environment. They will be at least aware of the presence of electric poles, sign boards and people walking by and avoid collision with them.
Has this device been implemented somewhere?
Tadar Anang: Based on my knowledge so far I haven’t seen anyone using this kind of device.
We wish to know more about yourself.
Tadar Anang: I spend most of my time making new things, bringing ideas into shapes – robotics, gadgets etc. Besides, I love photography and music.
What do you want to become and why?
Tadar Anang: I want to become a scientist because there are much more things to be done. Things like making life better by developing things that are non-polluting to the environment and are valuable. There are many wonders of the nature yet to be unlocked and studied upon.
Kudos to Tadar Anang!