For their senior capstone project, Elsa Oreen and Daniel Kocot designed smart glasses for the visually impaired (Eliza Grinnell/SEAS)
Engineering Design Projects (ES 100), the capstone course at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), challenges seniors to engineer a creative solution to a real-world problem.Obstacle Tracking Smart Glasses for Visually Impaired Mobility Daniel Kocot and Elsa Oreen, S.B. '26, Electrical EngineeringAdvisor: Todd Zickler• Please give a brief summary of your project.Our project aims to serve as a sleek, low-profile navigational aid for visually impaired individuals (VIIs). More specifically, it aims to track and alert users of low-hanging obstacles that are typically missed with a mobility cane. The project utilizes a two-camera system to triangulate distance through a concept called disparity, in addition to an object detection model that assigns these distances to objects of interest. • What real-world challenge does your project address?Currently, little to no technology helps VIIs navigate their surroundings in a compact, low-profile form factor. Many VIIs feel an associated stigma surrounding the mobility cane and look towards alternatives like smart glasses. In addition, most smart glasses that are catered towards VIIs are incredibly expensive, ranging from hundreds of dollars to thousands. These real-world challenges are what our project aims to address by building a navigational aid in a smart glasses form factor at a fraction of the price.
