Meet Zohaib, a fifth grade student developed “Navigational Hat for blind and made Pakistan Proud

Zohaib, a young scientist and 5th-grade student, developed a device that helps blind people to easily move and walk around without bumping into their surroundings. He built the device as a project after completion of the Arduino course from Stemers and named the device “Navigational Hat for Blind.”

Stemers is an institution engaged in providing STEM education to school and college students all over Pakistan. They also provide arts, management, and programming courses for the young generation. Their mission is to develop our students into thought leaders who generate ideas and have the capability of exploiting these ideas to create viable business opportunities. They have won numerous international competitions in different fields. Stemers has also set Guinness World Record in the field of Robotics last year in March 2019.

Zohaib is one of their old student who learned about Arduino and related technologies from Stemers and developed this extraordinary device based on this knowledge.

Navigational Hat for Blind is made to ease walking for blind people using sound to signal when something is in their way. The hat is capable of detecting walls or hurdles on three dimensions i.e. front, left, and right. If the hat detects anything close to the person wearing it, it makes a different sound depending upon the side on which the object was detected. This way blind people can get used to its use in a matter of few minutes by recognizing sounds and navigate their houses or work places easily.

The hat uses Ultrasonic sensors, Arduino board, and a battery to power these two devices. All the equipment is securely fitted on the hat and can be easily worn by anybody on the head. The ultrasonic sensors function as the eyes and detect when there is something in front and calculate the distance at which it is detected. Arduino board is a programmable hardware device that decides which sound has to make depending on the sensor sending the signal.

This device can help blind calibrate their movement as the device is set to function at a certain distance. If commercially pursued, the device has the ability to change the lives of blind people significantly.