After winning the international POPRI competition organized by the Primorska Technology Park, high school students Val Vidmar and Nik Stanojević won a SILVER MEDAL with their entrepreneurial idea "VISUS See With Me" in the Business category of the world renown competition Genius Olympiad (NY).
Third year high school students have developed a smart device in the form of a hostel belt to provide comprehensive assistance to the blind and visually impaired in their daily lives. SWM connects people with their environment and enables appropriate sensing and perception. The user can choose between different ways of perceiving and communicating data from the environment.
With the help of advanced algorithms and 3D recognition, SWM will detect obstacles, pavement edges, floor markings, traffic lights, hazards such as cars, cyclists, potholes, stairs and the like during use. An accurate GPS system will make it easier for blind people to walk from point A to point B. The device will be able to remember the environment the blind person has already walked in, so the device will learn in real time, share this information with other users, and soon establish a system that will allow the blind to safely walk in outdoor public areas.
Nik Stanojević and Val Vidmar are third year students at Gimnazija Novo mesto. They are engaged in innovations in the field of technological aids for the blind. The "See With Me" device is designed to enable blind people to more easily orient themselves in the environment, making them more independent. "We want to bring a new generation of technologically advanced assistive devices to the market. Our priority is to improve the world through the use of advanced technologies," explain the ambitious students, who also tested their product with successful blind entrepreneur Miha Srebrnjak, owner of the online store Samopostrezna.com. Their participation in the competition was made possible by Primorska Technology Park as a prize for winning the national POPRI competition.
At Genius Olympiad in Oswego, NY, 2,481 projects from 85 countries were submitted through the pre-selection process, of which 1,245 were accepted. The competition in the USA was held in six categories. Val Vidmr and Nik Stojanovič qualified for the finals with the Visus See with Me business model, where they presented their project in person to the international commissions, for which they received a silver medal.
This year, the competition took place on online platforms to prevent the spread of the Corona virus. You can view the award at the link below:
