Hyderabad, October 21, 2026: Lingampalli Himaja, 20 years old, from Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women has been shortlisted into the global top 20 for the James Dyson Award 2026 for her invention RUDHRA which enables 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.
RUDHRA will enter the final stage of the James Dyson Award, with global winners to be selected by Sir James Dyson and announced on 4th November. The winning inventions will receive £30,000 to support their further development and commercialisation.
Himaja Lingampalli, creator of RUDHRA, a voice-enabled Braille printer, says: “I feel incredibly grateful and proud to have this opportunity through the James Dyson Award. Representing India on an international platform is a meaningful milestone for me and gives RUDHRA the opportunity to reach a much wider audience. I see this as an important step towards taking RUDHRA further - making it more compact, more advanced, and more accessible, with the long-term goal of enabling visually impaired students to use it independently.”
The idea of RUDHRA was inspired by Himaja’s visit to a school for visually impaired students, where she saw the challenges of traditional Braille writing. After building her first prototype, a student’s question, “Why should I type when I can speak?”, inspired its evolution into a voice-enabled Braille printer.
According to the 2011 Census, there are 50,32,463 persons with visual impairment in India, who face significant barriers in accessing healthcare, education, and employment[1]. Assistive technologies such as screen readers offer critical support by translating on-screen text, images, and interfaces into speech or Braille output. These tools help users with visual impairments interact with educational platforms and content with greater independence.[2] Himaja wishes to redesign RUDHRA as a more affordable, student-focused product, bringing the cost down from around by optimising the materials and manufacturing process.
This year’s global finalists were selected by a panel of 12 Dyson engineers based in the UK, US, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. They bring a wide range of expertise, from product design, mechanical engineering, electronics, sustainability and chemical engineering. Each invention was evaluated on its functionality, design process, originality, and commercial viability.
Kay Yeong, Principal Engineer and James Dyson Award Top 20 Judge said: “The James Dyson Awards always attracts entries from a broad spectrum of areas, and this year no less so! This keeps things interesting, but it can be difficult to choose between say a children’s health device and a geoengineering structure. My favourite entries are those that surface problems that I didn’t know needed solving and this is something that a lot of the top 20 have in common. It is precisely these kinds of thought-provoking insights that are needed to help us invent practical, everyday solutions to improve lives. I’m excited to see who takes home the global prize."
The James Dyson Award (JDA) 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.
