Honduran Excellence
More #Honduranexcellence, a University student is working on a smart way to assist blind people!
Luis Orelllana is 21, and he is a student of mathematics and engineering at UNAH. He's from Roatan and he has a passion: helping blind people navigate. 8 sensors, a pair of glasses, a cane, a series of tests, and a whole lot of creativity are some of the ingredients that have helped him make real progress on his latest invention, a system of navigation and assistance designed to help blind people!
154 blind students study at UNAH and around the world there is an estimated 137 Million blind people. His project could help at least those 154 students to navigate by themselves and gain some more independence.
Using echolocation the glasses help detect obstacles, and provide a detection range of 1-3 steps so that the users don't hit obstacles and fall over. They also use a GPS to help ensure the users actually arrive at their intended destination. Perhaps the best feature is that there is an emergency button in the cane that will send out a predetermined message to family members in case of emergency, ensuring that family members will actually be notified in case something occurs.
One of the most pressing updates that will occur is the incorporation of the usage computer imagery, which will help to notify the users not only about the obstacles but where they are relative to the user.
The device will also use radio frequencies when the users are indoors, where GPS isn't quite as accurate.
Luis won 1st in the categories of robotics and electronics in the engineering department. He also won the prize in innovative ideas category for the student section of the technological innovative ideas (I cannot translate this super accurately, I hope it's understood what is meant)
Luis has kept winning awards, earning a position as one of the 10 most outstanding young Hondurans in the JCI-TOYP.
His passion for electronics extends back to his childhood. "One of my uncles was a technician. On holidays and vacations when I was a child I would happily pass the day observing how he would repair things and how they worked."
His winning of the awards is just a first step, and now he'll be able to continue working on his prototype with assistance from other engineers. The next step is to get investors to improve and finally finish the project.
"It's very satisfying to help others with something you've enjoyed and be able to make life easier for others." He says
The cost of the item would be equal to 100-150 dollars, a price well worth the benefits it would enable for the users.
Source: https://presencia.unah.edu.hn/academia/articulo/universitario-crea-baston-inteligente-para-ciegos
What an amazing story! I loved translating this, even if my translation wasn't utterly fantastic. It was a tough story to translate in its entirety, and I apologize for that, but I believe the content was worth sharing and letting people know about. Remember you need to stay informed, and you need to stay positive!
What do you think of Luis? Of his inventions?