Dubai: An eighth grade student from a GEMS school won Dh10,000 and the opportunity to convert his wearable object detection device for the visually impaired idea into a business start-up, at the Arab Innovation Centre for Education (AICE) Accelerator programme.
The AICE Accelerator Programme is an initiative supporting school students in the UAE in their efforts to create their own start-ups.
The device, which he called ODI, is the brainchild of Vishweswar Eswaran, a grade 8 student from GEMS Modern Academy.
He was awarded the GEMS Young Innovator of the Year award as part of the (AICE) Accelerator Programme.
Eswaran was inspired by the difficulties faced by his visually impaired grandfather in moving around. He created ODI, a wearable device that detects static obstacles and alerts the user with vibrations and voice notifications.
The device connects to a mobile app via Bluetooth and gives voice notifications when an obstacle is detected within 30cm.
Eswaran conducted extensive research and trials to develop his prototype. He thinks that the device has a large potential market, with 285 million visually impaired people globally.
He plans to distribute the product via online stores and resellers, and each unit costs Dh300 to build.
Eswaran was chosen following a Demo Day last week, where 10 teams, who were chosen from over 700 students from 40 schools, got 10 minutes each to pitch their ideas.
The pitch was made to leaders and investors in the region, including leaders from GEMS Education, the Prime Minister’s Office, various incubators and venture capital firms, and various industries.
