LUTZ, Fla. — A local student’s invention has earned her national recognition.
Ishanvi Sabniveesu, a tenth grader at Steinbrenner High School, just earned second place at the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals. Her invention is an AI-powered smart cane for the visually impaired, and is designed to change lives.
Inside a lobby, Ishanvi runs through her latest invention. “This is my most recent Care Cane prototype,” she said.
Built using 3D-printed materials, the Care Cane helps the visually impaired with the use of AI.
“Since the age of two, I’ve had glasses, and so that just always made it difficult for me to do simple daily tasks and led me to think how difficult life must be for someone who’s visually impaired,” said Ishanvi. “So, I decided to make a companion for such individuals and ended up developing Care Cane.”
Although Ishanvi is receiving praise for her invention, she says it’s not about recognition, but filling a need.
“I saw the competitor smart canes and other assistive devices as well, and then I made a list of all the features that I thought were missing,” said Ishanvi. “I actually visited blind schools and partnered with the Eye Foundation of America to see exactly what they still needed. Then from that, I decided to make Care Cane and fill the features that weren’t already there.”
Using the cane, as Ishanvi demonstrates, is pretty straightforward.
“The cane would start beeping to let the user know,” said Ishanvi. “So now, it took a picture of the environment from this camera, sends that to an LLN model, which then analyzes what’s in the environment.”
The cane uses AI to describe the user’s surroundings through a Bluetooth speaker, acting as an AI-powered stand-in for human vision. It can also make emergency phone calls.
Another feature is a type of anti-theft system where it can detect when someone else is using the cane. It also works offline, meaning it can work just about anywhere. Ishanvi’s family said they are proud of her success and the work that’s still to come.
“She is not stopping at this,” said Kesari Sabniveesu, Ishanvi’s father. “She wanted to start in a different way. She wants to expand her products into the people who are in wheelchairs, expanding this into hospital beds. So, a lot of different ideas. I really feel very proud of her way of thinking and expanding into others.”
And it’s continuing to fuel her to craft even more inventions.
“I really hope that in the future it is really reflected by me being more successful and also being able to help people at the same time,” said Ishanvi.
All with the same goal of helping others.
Aside from her Care Cane invention, Ishanvi has also invented a website called “Chronic Connect,” helping connect individuals with chronic illnesses to find share experiences and find support. Ishanvi’s Care Cane invention is currently patent pending.