Iris Pulse

Inspiration

One day, I was walking through the streets and crossed paths with a visuallly impaired individual. Her journey of life became an inspiration for me. She was facing difficulty in crossing the road. I went up to her and helped her cross the road. But, not every time she will have someone who will help her. I realized there was a need for something to help her. It was in those moments that the seed for Iris Pulse was planted. My motivation grew from her unwavering determination and beautiful perspective on this life. The project became tribute to her courage and a promise to countless people finding their way through the life.

What it does

Iris Pulse is an assistive technology that transforms the way visually impaired individuals percieve the world. Iris Pulse uses a high resolution LiDAR system to scan the world and innovative tech to translate that data into tactile language felt through a comfortable neckband. Using the split system, we remove the chunkiness of heavy hardware and give people back their simple, quiet confidence to walk across the streets on their own terms. The Glasses: Equipped with LiDAR sensor, it captures the 3D images of the world even in total darkness and sends the data to the innovative neckband. The Neckband: This is the core innovation. It is the processing unit equipped with NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano. It also has Directional Audio which only triggers during emergencies or when the user asks for information.

How we built it

Since this is a pitchathon project, we focued on engineering the blueprint instead of building the core product. Our architecture solves the tech gap for visually impaired. Our design uses a lightweight LiDAR equipped glasses. We also mapped out a Low Latency Translation Algorithm that converts 3D data into haptic pulses. The neckband uses NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano for processing and 24 high definition LRA positioned along the muscles. To prevent sensory overload, our system logic is silent by default and uses a priority filter.

Challenges we ran into

Building a new assistive technology, we ran into a few technical hurdles. The Challenge: Processing high speed LiDAR data generates significant heat and make the frames too hot to wear. Our Solution: By moving the processor and battery to the neckband, we split the system and used the larger surface area of shoulders to dissipitate heat. The Challenge: Constantly hearing data is exhausting for users and masks the environmental sounds. Our Solution: We developed the tactile language and instead of sound, we used haptics to shift 90% of data to the skin. The idea didn't just popped into our mind one single night. Facing many hurdles, we arrived at the glasses + neckband system.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are most proud of engineering a solution that can actually make an impact for visually impaired individuals. We've successfully blueprinted a system that overcomes the biggest hurdles in the industry: Facial Fatigue, Sensory Overload, and Intuitive Navigation. We've created a design that solves a crucial problem that is technically feasible, comercially viable, and most importantly, human centered.

What we learned

Our journey taught us the biggest problem isn't the hardware but rather the human interface. We realized why previous smart glasses and white canes failed. We learned from their mistakes to map out a solution that changes a technical failure to a comfort feature.

What's next for Iris Pulse

Our next step is to bring this sensation to life. Phase 1 (Prototype): Our immediate next step is to build a fully-functional prototype. Phase 2 (Trials): We will partner with local visual impairment centers to conduct user experience testing. Our goal is to identify the mistakes and work on their provided feedback.