Written by Prarthana Sheopuri. Managing Editor, I Kid You Not.

2022 is about to come to an end. Here’s a look at some great things that were invented this year…

Annie, the digital braille device

First, let’s know what braille is. It’s a system that enables visually challenged (blind) people to read with their fingers. There are raised dots that the person can feel and read the letters by touching these dots – which have alphabets.

India is home to over 20 percent of the world’s blind population. Unfortunately, it is also home to the largest number of blind children in any country.

About Annie

Developed by an Indian start-up called Thinkerbell Labs, Annie is a digital device meant for teaching visually impaired children to learn to read, write and type braille on their own.

It is a ‘self-learning’ device that acts as a personal tutor. An audio guide gives the child instant feedback, making it easy for her or him to learn – there’s a keyboard, a braille display, and a digital braille slate. Annie also uses gaming to teach children braille and make it more interactive and fun.

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Voice operated AI

ElliQ is a voice-operated care companion that is “designed to empower independence and support you in taking control of your social, mental and physical wellbeing”

Here’s all that it can do – have conversations with you, give you the news, weather and sports updates, inspire you with quotes, tell you about the pop up interesting facts, play music, games and even tell you a joke!

Designed for the elderly as a companion-cum-health checker, ElliQ also keeps track of health conditions, sets and tracks well goals, assesses general health like sleep, pain, anxiety, depression, helps you play games to keep your mind sharp, practice mindfulness and focus on breathing. It can even contact doctors and loved ones in case of emergencies!

ElliQ, says the compnay, “is best suited for older adults who spend most of their day at home but would enjoy some company throughout the day.”

There’s more..

This device also sets reminders, timers, can search for nesr-by services and book transport!

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Esper Hand

It is a self-learning robotic hand that seeks to help people with arm amputation (arm/hand cut off). It is one of the lightest hand prostheses
(artificial limb) on the market and has five separate movable fingers. It comes in four sizes. It uses brain signals to move the arm, just like it would in a normal arm.

How it works. Once it is attached to a user, when they try to move the Esper Hand, their brain sends signals to the muscles in the forearm, shoulder, or chest and creates movement.

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Field of Vision

It uses physical sensations such as vibration to simulate (imitate) the sense of touch and advanced computer vision modelling to provide visually impaired sports fans with a real-time experience of what’s happening.

To play the game a fan uses a box that is smaller than an A4 page with the imprint of a football pitch on the top. The action that’s happening is transferred to the device via a magnetic finger-piece and mirrors the progress of the ball – so the user can get a sense of where the ball is and know what is happening in the game!

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Smart Suitcase

Travelmate Robotics has designed and created a suitcase that follows the owner after activation! So you don’t need to drag it – because it simply follows you.

It’s a “fully autonomous suitcase and robot”, that you can control from your smartphone. Apart from lots of smart features, like bliuetooth and USB, this amart suitcase also has a GPS chip that helps you know its location at all times.

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Kara Pure – Making Water from Air!

This is seriously a great invention! It literally creates water out of air!

Kara Pure turns the air’s humidity drinkable, alkaline, mineral-fortified water. There have been similar products like this before, but those have been noisy, and high on energy use.

Kara Pure is noiseless and low on energy. It launched in December 2021 and in the first 70 days the company did $1 million in sales! All you have to do is plug it in.

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Eco Remote – does not need batteries

Eco Remote from Samsung is a sustainable and eco-friendly TV remote.

Made with recycled materials, it uses solar energy during the day and radio waves at night to keep it charged and does not need batteries.

And, here’s the great thing – Samsung says that that solar-powered remote controls can avoid about 99 million batteries from being discarded over a period of seven years. That’s really a great innovation.

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Smart Health Monitoring Lights

We have heard of watches and phones that monitor our health, but a bulb that tracks vital health metrics like heart rate, blood pressure, etc. Sounds incredible?

Sengled – a company that makes smart lighting that work with smart homes – has made smart health monitoring lights that do much more than light acocording to your wish (many other compnaies like Philips make such smart lights). This one does more. It tracks your sleep and many other vital signs like your heart rate and body temperature etc.

The company even claims the the bulbs can know if someone has fallen!
Wonder what Thomas Edison would have thought of this had he been alive!

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Humanoid Robot

Developed by a UK-based company called Engineered Arts, Ameca, claims the company is, “the world’s most advanced human shaped robot”

It is capable of human-like motions such as fluid movement of arms and facial expressions along with twitches of the eyes. The design of Ameca is inspired by Bollywood & Hollywood robot-based movies, currently, it is used for entertainment, customer service, and informational terminals.

See what she looks like here:

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Know of any inventions we missed? Let us know in the comments!

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