New Delhi: 16-year-old Arsh Shah Dilbagi's invention is the only entry from Asia in the 15 global finalists at the Google Science Fair 2014. The augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device that Dilbagi developed is called 'Talk' and can be used by people with developmental disabilities whose communication abilities are impaired.
Most AAC devices available currently are very expensive and Dilbagi's creation offers an affordable alternative that can be made available at a price less than $100 (Rs 6000), which could possibly make it the cheapest such device.
'Talk' is also light and portable and weighs like a regular phone. Dilbagi says it can run for over 2 days on a single charge. It took him three months of research and another seven months to build the final prototype.
The device interprets two distinguishable exhales as Morse codes (short exhales are dots and long exhales are dashes) and converts them into words and sentences. 'Talk' comes with 9 voice settings for different genders and age groups and has two modes - one for language communication and the other for command phrases.
"Talk uses Breath as the medium of interaction between the user and device which also makes it unique as it has been never done before," Dilbagi says. He also has plans to make his device integrate with Android smartphones and Google Glass to make it more accessible and easier to use.
Dilbagi, who prefers to be addressed to by his nickmname Robo, is a Class XII student at DAV Public School, Panipat, Haryana and says his inspiration is Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for "combining technology with art and envisioning products like no other."
The Google Science Fair is a global online science and technology competition open to individuals and teams from ages 13 to 18. This year there were 11 regional finalists from India but only Arsh Shah Dilbagi made it to the global finals.
Voting for the competition closes on September 15 and the winners will be announced on September 23.
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