The world bore yet another loss when renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking passed away at the age of 76, last week. The pioneering physicist and author of best-selling book 'A Brief History of Time' was diagnosed with Lou Gerhig's disease at the age of 21, and was given only a couple of years to live. Many know that the Professor, who lost his voice in 1985 after a tracheotomy, used to speak with the help of a special technology designed for him. What many do not know, is that the technology was developed by Indian engineers.
Arun Mehta and Vickram Crishna effectively helped Hawking get his voice back. The theoretical physicist arrived in India for the first time in January 2001, for a 16-day long tour he would later describe as “magnificent”. During this time, his aides began reaching out to people and organisations who could help write a software program that would help Hawking communicate through his computerised wheelchair. Mehta and Crishna took up the challenge. Crishna even met Hawking, later describing him as a warm, fun-loving guy who loved cracking jokes. He said Hawking had a serious problem that needed serious attention.
Along with Mehta, he created a better tech-human interface that would make it easier for him to express himself. They developed a software called Elocutor, that works on a prediction model and attempts to anticipate what a user is going to type next, and learns from what he or she had already typed in the past. It made it possible for Hawking to type and speak using a single button. “While developing the software we realised the importance of technology in the lives of people with disabilities, especially those who have a tough time communicating. So we started doing more work in this area, only to realise that working constantly in this field did not make commercial sense. It is something more suited for an NGO than for a software company.”
Mehta and Crishna founded BAPSI in 2009, an NGO that aims to make technology solutions accessible and affordable for the “information poorest”.
