Tech Driving Inclusion: Team From IIT Ropar Develop Android App For Visually Impaired To Identify Currency

A team from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar in Punjab has developed an Android app “Roshni”, using analytics and image processing, to assist visually impaired people in identifying the denomination of Indian National Rupee (INR) currency notes, reports The Pioneer.

IIT Ropar, in a statement issued on Wednesday (23 January), said that the user had to bring the currency note in front of phone camera and the app would then provide audio notification intimating the denomination of the currency note to the user.

The team consists of Dr Puneet Goyal, PhD scholars Mandhatya Singh and Joohi Chauhan, and a student R. Ram.

Roshni is the first android app that works successfully with the new currency notes. It works in a range of light conditions and holding angles, the statement added. The team had prepared extensive data of more than 13,000 images of INR currency notes under varied real-world conditions.

According to the report, members of the team recently visited a blind school in Chandigarh for testing of the app. Roshni app received a very positive feedback from the students as well as faculty members of the School.

“Roshni is turning out to be very beneficial for the visually impaired in easily recognising INR currency and performing money transactions confidently and smoothly,” Dr Goyal, assistant professor, IIT Ropar was quoted in the report as saying.