A Thomas Jefferson High School junior is launching an assistive technology start-up to help people with motor disabilities use computers more easily.
Dhanvin Ganeshkumar’s Swype AI will allow people to control their computer using a free mobile app on their smartphone in conjunction with gestures or vocal commands.
While the app is still in beta testing, the 16-year-old has already spoken with over 15 accessibility organizations — many focused on motor disabilities like Parkinson’s disease and ALS — and in March he received $2,500 at the SXSW Student Impact Challenge.
Ganeshkumar created the app after noticing how his grandparents struggled to operate a computer due to tremors. While he tried finding assistive technologies to help, he said many were outdated or prohibitively expensive — sometimes costing upward of $1,000.
“Swype, for me, was really built out of a personal connection — growing up, watching my own relatives struggle to use computers. That was because of the impairments they suffered which really made digital tasks almost impossible,” Ganeshkumar said. “I decided to take matters into my own hands.”
Ganeshkumar began coding in his bedroom, partly using skills that he learned at Thomas Jefferson, a school known for its elite STEM program. He has also conducted research at institutions like Harvard, MIT and Stanford.
He initially wanted to launch Swype as a nonprofit organization, but he found nonprofits difficult to scale. In choosing the for-profit route, he still wants to be able to provide this technology for free.
“It’s really helpful to make the entire product free and accessible to the entire world, especially the underprivileged communities that don’t have access to this type of expensive technology and equipment,” Ganeshkumar said.
The current plan is for the baseline model to be available for free before adding in-app purchase options to make a profit. Ganeshkumar says certain customization features may be behind a paywall.
Already, the young entrepreneur has fundraised around $5,000, enough to cover production costs for the app.
Though the teenager says he often faces a “stigma” when he first starts talking to adults about his business, but his experience enhances his credibility.
Ganeshkumar hopes to publicly launch Swype AI in the next two to three months.
“Getting feedback and putting yourself out there is something you should be doing as a high schooler,” Ganeshkumar said. “Now is the time, really–with this new age of technology–to really put yourself out there and bring out your ideas to the world.”
