Twin brothers and the machine that helps the blind

Brothers Huy - Hoang and teacher Tran Quang Vinh Chanh with equipment to support the visually impaired

• MACHINE FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

“We started with an idea, which is to support people with visual impairments and people with visual impairments with a tool to convert text into speech as well as perceive all the small objects around them,” said Le Kha Huy, the older brother. The two brothers Le Kha Huy and Le Kha Hoang are both 12th grade students at Dong Da Secondary and High School, a school on the outskirts of Da Lat City.

Since grade 10, the twin brothers Huy and Hoang have started participating in scientific research projects, specializing in programming software such as designing and creating robots, steam engines to make boats that collect trash on lakes. The twin brothers' products have been highly appreciated in school and provincial competitions. And this school year, the two have created a tool to support the visually impaired in reading books called the Device to support the visually impaired in reading paper and electronic documents, improving the quality of life and learning.

Initially, Le Kha Hoang's idea was to create an electronic reading device to help blind people listen to information available on the internet. But then, the two of them added a feature that the device can recognize paper documents, so that disabled people can use it to read paper documents, including handwritten documents. The device has a microcontroller, screen, microphone and speaker as well as a scanning camera. Blind people use the microphone to speak their requests such as: listening to audiobooks from the library, putting paper documents under the camera so that the camera can recognize, scan and convert written text into voice. The camera with AI works very sensitively, just need to be placed in space to be able to scan. In addition, the camera can describe small objects to blind people, from shape, features to manufacturer.

The device supports the blind, simple but completely connected to the network, helping the blind to access the vast internet space with diverse information streams. In particular, the device is very cheap, only from 3 - 4 million VND, it can support the blind to listen to paper documents, electronic documents and is controlled by voice. To create a device with many features suitable for the blind, two young people brought the initial test products to the Lam Dong Association for the Blind, so that the blind can use it and give feedback, contributing practical ideas. It is from the contributions and improvement ideas of the blind who have used the device that have helped the device to be complete and effective for the blind.

• SUPPORT FROM THE BELOVED SCHOOL

“We were helped a lot by teachers, the school as well as seniors who went to university and came back to support us,” Le Kha Huy and Le Kha Hoang shared. Among them, the teacher who directly guided the two students’ research was Mr. Tran Quang Vinh Chanh - a “golden face” who specializes in supporting students to win prizes at Dong Da School. He said that with the training strategy, encouraging students to participate in science and technology innovation competitions, he himself only participated in supporting and guiding the students.

“The students are very smart, have good ideas, our team of teachers only needs to guide them so that they can develop their creativity and imagination in a truly soaring way. In particular, the school's Board of Directors enthusiastically supports teachers and students. We have a manufacturing workshop with all kinds of machines, cutting machines, grinding machines, welding machines for students to work directly. When it comes to buying chips, buying RAM, buying electronic circuits, materials..., the school spares no expense to accompany the students", Mr. Le Quang Vinh Chanh is very proud of Dong Da school as well as his beloved students.

In addition, many former students of the school have gone to university to support their juniors when they encounter difficulties. Kha Hoang said that one of them supported his friends in image recognition and another one supported them a lot in coding and AI integration. The support of teachers, seniors and friends helped Kha Huy and Kha Hoang achieve their best results. The machine that helps the blind read documents was awarded the Fourth Prize by the Council with high appreciation for its practical application, helping the blind community to access learning faster and more effectively.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/xa-hoi/202503/anh-em-sinh-doi-va-chiec-may-ho-tro-nguoi-khiem-thi-e897547/