BrailleVision Hackathon 2026 is a virtual hackathon focused on building real-world assistive technology for visually impaired users. The challenge is to build a system that can use a camera to scan real physical Braille and convert it into English text and/or speech in real time or near real time. This is not a simple digital Braille translator. Participants should not only convert Unicode Braille symbols like ⠓⠑⠇⠇⠕ into English. The goal is to process real camera input of physical handwritten or embossed Braille dots from paper. Participants may use any technology stack, including Python, OpenCV, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Flutter, Android, React, web camera APIs, mobile apps, or embedded systems. Braille is an essential reading and writing system for many visually impaired users. However, reading physical Braille requires touch-based literacy, and many caregivers, teachers, volunteers, and accessibility workers may not be able to understand Braille quickly. This hackathon encourages participants to build technology that can bridge this gap by converting real Braille into readable English and spoken output. Total Cash Prize Pool: ₹20,00,000. Top 25 winners will receive cash prizes. Prize Distribution: 1st Place — ₹4,00,000 2nd Place — ₹2,75,000 3rd Place — ₹2,00,000 4th Place — ₹1,50,000 5th Place — ₹1,00,000 6th–10th Place — ₹75,000 each 11th–15th Place — ₹50,000 each 16th–20th Place — ₹30,000 each 21st–25th Place — ₹20,000 each. Another 25 selected participants will receive $50 OpenAI credits each. Your solution should focus on detecting real Braille dots from camera images or video, grouping them into Braille cells, recognizing the dot pattern, and converting the result into English text and/or voice output. The strongest projects will focus not only on recognition accuracy but also on usability for visually impaired users.
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