New Sensory System for the Visually Impaired - Beyond Sight
Electrical engineering majors Gabriel Habech and Michael Romano wanted to make a difference through entrepreneurship.
“When Gabriel and I met at FIU, we immediately began to talk about various business ideas that would allow us to implement our engineering knowledge to solve a critical social problem,” said Romano.
During a winter break visit to his hometown in Brazil, Habech reconnected with a family friend who was visually impaired and described his difficulty navigating unfamiliar places and the problem of colliding with people and things in his path.
The friend's story inspired Habech and Romano to create BeyondSight, which consists of smart glasses and a special belt that together provide the wearer with the location, height and distances of nearby objects. The tech relies on AI and haptic feedback – the use of vibrations or motions to create an experience of touch for a user - to guide the individual with visual impairment as they moving through their surroundings. Habech and Romano say there is no other device like BeyondSight on the market for visually impaired.
“We’ve created a prototype, which we are continuously testing with the blind community,” said Habech. “We’re excited to share our innovation to improve the lives of the visually impaired around the world, enhancing their safety and independence.”
The two students have spent the last few months working closely with StartUP FIU mentors Emily Gresham and Robert Hacker to perfect their pitch for eMerge and make improvements to their invention.
“The advice and mentorship we’ve received from StartUP FIU has been critical in helping us gather the data we need and prepare for BeyondSight’s next steps,” said Michael. “We are thrilled to share our innovation at eMerge and generate more awareness of this game-changing technology.”
Learn more at
go.fiu.edu/beyondsight