Student from South Africa creates smart glasses for blind

Elihle Stali, a student from the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, has developed AI-powered glasses designed for people with visual impairments. This was reported by IOL.

The programmer has created a device that recognises objects the user is looking at and converts the information into a voice message, describing what is in front of the wearer. The glasses support several languages spoken in South Africa.

The invention has already attracted the attention of the international community. The 23-year-old student has been invited to present his technology at a start-up competition in Hong Kong this July.

The idea for the glasses stemmed from a personal experience. The inventor’s grandmother was blind. As a child, he would lead her by the hand every day and help her move around the house. At the age of 11, he vowed to find a solution that would restore independence to blind people. To achieve this goal, he founded a start-up.

Development in this field has also taken place in Indonesia. Students at the University of Indonesia have created AI-powered smart glasses that help people with visual impairments to go running safely. Using sensors and a data-processing system, the device analyses the surroundings in real time, suggests a route and warns of obstacles. The team of students became global ambassadors for an international innovation competition, and the university’s vice-chancellor noted that this success confirms the high standard of the students’ training.