Milan Hudecek
{{Short description|Czech-born Australian inventor and entrepreneur}}
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Milan Hudecek {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} (pron. who-de-check, born 9 January 1954) is a Czech-born Australian inventor and entrepreneur. He pioneered the fields of assistive technology for the blind (in particular computing for the blind) and radio communications (in particular software-defined radios). He is a Member of the Order of Australia, winner of the Winston Gordon Award for Technological Advancement in the Field of Blindness and Visual Impairment, and the Rolls-Royce & Qantas Award of Engineering Excellence.
Professional career
Founder (1983) and managing director of the Melbourne based Australian Export Award-winning Robotron Group, Hudecek is credited with the invention of the world's first computer for the blind, the Eureka A4,[http://www.sensorytools.com/eureka.htm Eureka A4] and a number of other assistive products such as reading machines for the blind.[http://www.sensorytools.com/readsmart Readsmart: The Excalibur reading machine]
Hudecek is also the founder (1991) of the Australian company radixon Group[http://www.radixon.com Radixon Group] (formerly Rosetta Laboratories), specializing in various radio communications equipment, in particular software-defined radio. The company's first product was "WiNRADiO" – a wide-band communications receiver on a PC card, the first such product of its kind. An article describing early WiNRADiO products appeared in 1998 in Wired magazine.[http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/technology/1,10805-0.html WiNRADiO Gives Low-Fi Tech a New Face] Radixon Group now sells its computer-controlled radio communications receivers and associated hardware and software under the brand name WiNRADiO.
In the 1997 Australia Day Honours Hudecek was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his "service to people with disabilities through the invention of a laptop computer and other technology for use by people who are blind or partially sighted".{{Cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/880659|title=Milan Hudecek|website=honours.pmc.gov.au|access-date=2019-09-01}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.robogroup.com Hudecek's company web site]
- [http://www.sensorytools.com Hudecek's assistive technology inventions]
- [http://www.sensorytools.com/readsmart Hudecek's reading machines]
- [http://www.radixon.com Hudecek's radio communications company]
- [http://www.winradio.com Hudecek's software-defined radios]
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Category:20th-century Australian inventors