B Tech students develop Smart Stick to aid visually impaired individuals

Mumbai, Jul 08: B Tech second-year students Rushikesh Ramchandra Waghmode, Sanketvardhan Satyajeet Bhonsle, Deepti Jayananth Iyer and Ruchit Ramesh Shetty from DY Patil International University, Akurdi, Pune, under the supervision of Professor (Dr) Shubhro Chakrabartty have developed a prototype of an innovative Smart Blind Stick designed to aid visually impaired individuals using advanced object detection technology.

The Stick, noted for its cost-effectiveness compared to existing designs, employs Roboflow to train its object detection model. The students meticulously provided their collected datasets and adjusted settings through trial and error to optimize the model. This development marks a significant advancement in assistive technology, demonstrating the potential of young engineers to create impactful solutions for real-world challenges.

The Smart Blind Stick is equipped with the ability to identify obstacles such as walls, ensuring that users are alerted to potential dangers via unique vibration patterns for different scenarios. This functionality enhances the safety and independence of visually impaired individuals. This project has been accepted for presentation at the IEEE conference, the International Conference on Communication, Computing, and Energy Efficiency Technologies (I3CEET) in NCR. Additionally, an Indian design patent has been applied for this innovation.

This achievement by the students showcases the potential of integrating cutting-edge technology with innovative thinking to address real-world problems effectively.

Talking to Bizz Buzz, Dr Shubhro Chakrabartty, Faculty, DY Patil International University, Akurdi, Pune, said, “If research ability is grown from the inception of Bachelors’ degree, students can bring prolific outcomes and develop packaging systems in India, thus elevating India in the global research arena.”