Our country is a home for one-third of the world’s visually impaired population, these people are facing lot of problems in their day-to-day life, hence it’s very much important to address their needs and make the world a better place for them.
In order to understand the problems of visually impaired people we had visited Louis Adarsha Blind School(Reg.No:10627/2000) for multiple times , which is located in Warangal urban district of Telangana state and interacted with the faculty and students of that school.
We had a long discussion with Mr. Pasha (in charge and tutor of blind school),when we asked him about their day-to-day problems, he told us that they are facing difficulty in identifying the new currency notes, he also requested us to develop a device which could tell them the exact denomination of the currency.
| Sno | Designation | Name | Hall No |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team Leader: | Ch.Sai Krishna | (16K41A0513) |
| 2 | Team Manager: | M.Mounika | (16K41A0533) |
| 3 | Web Master: | S.Surya Teja | (17K45A0415) |
| 4 | Partner Liaison: | Ch.Ravali Reddy | (16K41A0472) |
We had chosen Louis Adarsha Blind School as our community partner and done an ethnographic study upon the day-to-day problems faced by them, among all the problems stated by them, we had chosen to work on the currency identification problem.
The old series Rs 50 banknote had a square above the emblem on left side. In case of Rs 100 note there is a triangle. The given mark on the notes is used by the blind to know the denomination. On the newly issued Rs 2,000, 500 banknotes, there are seven, five lines respectively on both sides of the notes which help blind people to identify it.
The problem is, there are no identification marks for new 50 and 10 rupee banknotes and this creates confusion in identifying the currency notes.
A PIL had been filed in Delhi High Court on 3-11-2017 [1],[2] against RBI for ignoring the identification marks.
We had found a template named TIFFY by which visually impaired people can recognize the actual denomination of older bank notes (i.e., bank notes before demonetization).
Tiffy template is not applicable to the existing currency; hence there is an urgent need to design a simple and compact device by which visually impaired people can identify the banknotes.
To study the existing mechanisms and devices for identifying the currency.
To make a simple design which is easy to use and carry.
To make a commercially viable device.
Field visits and studies.
Designing of the currency reader.
Prototyping of the currency reader.
User testing.
Modifications according to the feedback of user.
Making final prototype.
A portable device for identifying the currency would be developed and tested with the people of Louis Adarsha Blind School.
Duration : 3 months
| Bank note | Length(mm) | Width(mm) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 124 | 63 |
| 50 | 135 | 66 |
| 100 | 143 | 66 |
| 200 | 147 | 66 |
| 500 | 150 | 66 |
| 2000 | 167 | 66 |
On our research on new currency notes the one similar thing among them is they are of same width and differ one to another in terms of length.
We made use of that length and designed a simple template by which a visually impaired person can find the exact denomination of bank note.
The above template consists of a holder, strips and identification marks, a person using this template has to place the note in the holder and find the other end of the note, after finding the other end of the note he should recognize the strip above the note and with the help of strip he could identify the denomination of the bank note.
The above template is easy to carry as it can be folded.
We had further developed the above template such that we get output in the form of sound, the device can be seen in the figure given below.
The above device consists of holder, buttons and strips, a person using this device has to place the banknote in the holder and should find the other end of the note, after reaching the other end of the note, he should recognize the strip just above the banknote, using that strip he has to press the button (left corner) so that output will be in the form of sound. The above device can be easily carried in pockets.
We had tested the above device with the students and faculty of Louis Adarsha Blind School, most of them were able to use the device easily, they were happy and satisfied with the product. To take this device to the next level extension, we are working on the annunciater using AI based pattern recognition algorithm.
The photograph shown above is taken during product Delivery to the user.
The product is delivered after demonstrating and also confirmed the feasibility of operation by the user.
SR Engineering College
AnanthaSagar (V), Hasanparthy (M),
Warangal, Telangana - 506371
+ 91-870-2818333-11
epics@srecwarangal.ac.in
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