India, Sep 16: Lingampalli Himaja, a student from Chintalapudi in Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru district, has won India National James Dyson Award 2026 for RUDHRA, a voice-enabled Braille printer that converts spoken words into Braille. A student of Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women, Himaja developed RUDHRA to enable visually impaired individuals to create Braille documents independently. Inspired by challenges she observed while interacting with visually impaired students, the innovation aims to make Braille writing more accessible and intuitive through technology. She will receive approximately INR 6 lakh as the India National winner.
The James Dyson Award invites students from 30 countries to create ingenious solutions using straightforward yet effective engineering principles. The 2026 edition in India was a showcase of remarkable ingenuity, with young engineers presenting innovative solutions to real-world problems.
Lingampalli Himaja, National Winner of India for the James Dyson Award 2026 said,
“The idea for RUDHRA began during a visit to a school for visually impaired students, where I saw how traditional Braille writing was making learning slower and more difficult. Students had to learn both Braille characters and their reverse patterns, while continuous punching could also affect the fingertips needed to read Braille. After building my first prototype, one student asked me, ‘Why should I type when I can speak?’. That simple question inspired RUDHRA’s evolution into a voice-enabled Braille printing system. Winning the James Dyson Award gives RUDHRA the recognition and visibility it needs to reach the right institutions, communities, and people. More importantly, this will help me take the prototype from a working concept to a solution that can be refined, tested, and brought to the people who need it.”
“Serving as a judge for the James Dyson Award 2026 was an enriching experience. The entries demonstrated impressive creativity, technical understanding and a strong commitment to solving real-world problems through purposeful design and engineering. The platform provides young innovators with valuable visibility and encouragement to develop practical ideas into meaningful solutions with the potential for wider impact.”, said Dr. Atun Roy Choudhury, PhD Senior Consultant, EY.
RUDHRA enables users to create, edit and print Braille documents through simple voice commands. Spoken input is converted into text through Alexa, while a Raspberry Pi translates the text into reverse Braille patterns. A printing mechanism then embosses the required dots onto paper. By automatically generating reverse Braille patterns, RUDHRA removes the need for users to learn reverse writing techniques and reduces the physical effort involved in traditional slate-and-stylus writing. Developed through feedback from visually impaired students, the device aims to make Braille creation faster, easier to learn and more accessible.
In addition to the national winner, the James Dyson Award announced ViabilityX, a passive organ preservation and transport system, as the 1st runner-up. Created by Anvika Shetty from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, ViabilityX maintains organs at a precise 4–8°C without electricity, batteries or ice. The backpack-worn system uses phase-change material cooling and a stabilising inner holder, while sensors provide live temperature and location updates through a companion mobile app. Compact enough to fit in an aircraft cabin overhead bin, ViabilityX aims to make long-distance organ transport safer and more reliable.
Trike 2π, created by Shakeel Akthar S from Anna University, was announced as the 2nd runner-up for India. Trike 2π is a compact electric patrol vehicle designed to reduce patrol fatigue and improve security response in confined pedestrian environments. Its three-wheel architecture combines the stability of a four-wheeler with the manoeuvrability of a two-wheeler, enabling tight turns within a five-foot radius. A standing platform improves visibility and allows quick mounting and dismounting, while independent suspension and integrated patrol features support security operations across large pedestrian environments.
The top three entries will represent India in the international round of the James Dyson Award. The final winners will be selected by Sir James Dyson himself.
Run by the James Dyson Foundation, a charitable trust established by James Dyson, the James Dyson Award is dedicated to igniting enthusiasm for design engineering among young people. It acts as a platform to honour, motivate and inspire the future generation of design engineers.
