Creed, a Junior Achievement team from Ballakermeen High School, visited Noble’s Hospital last week to pitch their product to Manx Care’s CEO, the General Manager for Primary and Community Care, and the CEO of charity Sight Matters.
Junior Achievement is a Manx-registered charity dedicated to helping the Island’s young people gain the essential skills they need to get a job or start their own business. You can read more about Junior Achievement on their website.
The team (Krishna Ramesh, Ben Thomas and Miltos Provatakis) have designed a product, currently in its prototype phase, to assist those with visual impairments or blindness to navigate their environments.
The Sensoguard is a glove that uses ultrasonic sensors to detect objects in the environment, relaying signals to haptic motors on the fingertips. This means that the closer a person is to an object, the more the haptic motors will vibrate.
Creed have included a camera on the device, and are aiming to make use of an object detection algorithm to help users detect exactly what object they are approaching – using mathematics to detect corners and coding to 'recognise' as many items as possible.
The team are in the process of streamlining the Sensoguard to ensure it is discreet and easy to use, whilst also maintaining safety as their number one priority. The glove design means that people can feel more confident about navigating their environment as objects 'above the belt' would be easier to detect.
Miltos Provatakis, Creed’s Managing and Operations Director, said:
'This is an untapped market, and we’re excited to be bringing the Sensoguard to life. We’re using our range of skills and interests to research, design and market our product, and are determined that it will help people in the future. Our slogan is 'guiding each step' – we hope that our device will instil more confidence in those who use it.'
Representatives from Manx Care and Sight Matters were very impressed by the team’s idea, and even got the opportunity to test the product. Teresa Cope, CEO of Manx Care, commented:
'I’m looking forward to following the journey of this project – the team’s commitment to safety and inclusivity is clear, and they have a strong focus on the experience of the end user. Thank you for a fascinating meeting!'
You can follow Creed’s progress on their website, or on Instagram at @Creed_IOM.
Pictured L-R: Mr Mohamed (Manx Care), Krishna Ramesh (Creed), Annmarie Cubbon (General Manager, Integrated Primary and Community Care), Ben Thomas (Creed), Catherine Bradley (Sight Matters), Miltos Provatakis (Creed), Teresa Cope (Manx Care CEO)
