Hemani Kalucha is a winner of the Technical Excellence Award at the Sixth World Robot Olympiad in Malaysia.

Hemani has developed a customised air hockey game for the visually impaired. It has a board fitted with colour sensors, each of which represent a value that the puck can read. The information is then sent via Bluetooth to a glove also fitted with sensors worn by visually impaired individuals, which then vibrates, allowing individuals to sense the position of the puck.

Kalucha’s team also created a robotic arm that can be attached to the board so that the visually impaired person does not have to play alone. The game was successfully demonstrated at The Happy Home and School for the Blind in Mumbai.

Kalucha, who has been involved in robotics since the age of 12, has developed a device for pain relief in the knees in the past that uses vibrating motors to divert pain signals away from the brain. This project made it to the IRIS National Science Fair.