Young inventors investigating solutions for the visually impaired
For the seventh year, The Lemelson Foundation is awarding $100 prizes to outstanding young inventors in Society Affiliate Fairs with middle school participants across the country. The prize was created to recognize young inventors whose projects exemplify inventive thinking by identifying challenges in their communities and creating solutions that make a difference.
Across the country, young inventors are using their empathy and creativity to design visual aids for the blind or visually impaired. While scattered across the country, they all share a similar motivation: to make life easier for those who cannot see.
In the United States, approximately 7 million people have visual impairments, including 1 million who are blind. This year, multiple middle school Lemelson Early Inventor Prize winners looked at this problem, developing innovative solutions that address a pressing national and global need.
Sanjey Gopinath’s Smart Walking Stick
Sanjey Gopinath, 7th grader from Louisville, Kentucky, transformed a standard walking stick into an “IoT-Enabled Obstacle Detecting Walking Stick” designed to help the visually impaired do their daily tasks safely.
The device uses sensors with a 50-centimeter range to predict obstacles before they are encountered, sending an auditory signal to alert the user when obstacles are detected. Sanjey says this invention took hours of research and engineering models.
Sanjey says winning the Lemelson Early Inventor Prize at the Dupont Manual High School Regional Fair was a prestigious and profound honor.
“This recognition will inspire me to continue my scientific journey and will inspire me to build more inventions to make the world a better place,” Sanjey says. “This prize will be one of my most unforgettable accomplishments because this is my first year of starting my scientific journey. By accomplishing this achievement, I am starting to improve and enhance my ideas and future studies.”
Katalina Huerta’s Visionary Stick
While new to coding, Katalina Huerta, 7th grader from Corpus Christi, Texas, enhanced a basic walking stick into a robotic, coded walking stick, winning the Lemelson Early Inventor Prize at the Coastal Bend Regional Science Fair.
The obstacle-detecting stick uses detection code sensors, giving users the option of choosing which program they want to use. Whether they prefer verbal alerts from the robot or one in which they can turn away or back away without the voice setting.
“I often heard stories about my great grandma and how she became blind due to diabetes,” Katalina says. “She lost her independence—something that she struggled with. I’ve always loved helping people and wanted to create something that could give visually impaired individuals a sense of independence.”
Katalina said the most challenging part of her project was coding, since this was her first project using it. She embraced the challenge and even participated in two coding classes over the summer to strengthen her coding skills.
Omuwa Izah’s Ultrasonic, Auditory and Tactile Feedback System for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Omuwa Izah, 8th grader from Galloway, New Jersey, created a three-part navigation and obstacle system for blind and visually impaired users.
Her project makes extensive use of Arduino, an open-source platform for building electronic projects, along with circuit boards, coding and modules to design a system that helps effectively navigate their surroundings.
A novice coder, Omuwa stayed determined throughout her project (and learned from scratch!) how to assemble the components of each system and created a unique invention, earning the Lemelson Early Inventor Prize at the Delaware Valley Science Fair.
The project includes a Bluetooth walking stick, a vibrational Bluetooth glove and ultrasonic glasses. It provides ultrasonic, auditory and tactile feedback.
“The system is not perfect, but for something with multiple parts that costs under $100, built by a student and not a huge tech company charging $500. I’d say this system is a solid start,” Omuwah says.
She will continue her research with many ideas to stir, Omuwa aims to keep the product affordable, functional and customizable for each user.
Shiven Jha & Harshul Sing Use AI-powered Object Detection and Distance Calculation to Help the Visually Impaired
This team project by 8th graders Shiven Jha and Harshul Sing, participants in the Rhode Island Science and Engineering Fair, uses AI to create an assistive system for the blind and visually impaired. The system is powered by three main components: wake word detection, object detection and stereo vision/distance calculation. It activates when the user says the wake word “SUNO” (Smart User Navigation for Optical assistance). Once activated, the user can either specify  an object, such as “person” or “car,” or request “all objects.” The system then provides detailed feedback, such as: “Person, 3.2 meters away, at 11 o’clock.” This feedback provides the user with precise spatial awareness. The system is currently a working prototype built on a Raspberry Pi 5, equipped with two cameras, a microphone and a speaker, but the team plans to eventually miniaturize it into a pair of smart glasses.
Shiven says his favorite part about this award-winning project is seeing the invention process come to life and building something that could potentially change lives.
“The moment when the system could successfully detect an object, calculate its distance and provide auditory feedback was immensely rewarding,” Shiven says. “It felt like a tangible step toward making a real-world impact for visually impaired individuals.”
