UNS – Five students of Univerity of Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta from the study program of Informatics and Computer Engineering Education invented So-Li Sense to help people with visual impairments. They are Andreas Wegiq, Ragil Setiawan, Adimas Agustinus, Muhammad Afriyansyah, and Calvin Gibran. They invented the So-Li Sense: 3D Mapping and Artificial Intelligence Combination Based Assistive Technology for Blind People.
Andreas Wegiq mentioned that So-Li Sense is an innovated product that is able to conduct environment cartography with 3D mapping for finding out the overall objects surrounding the blind person and guiding them when walking.
“The people with visual impairments usually use a white cane and the guide of a dog as an assistive system to mobilize. However, both systems cannot help them significantly. Thus, it needs advanced assistive technology,” Andreas explained on Thursday (12/12/2019).
This product consists of three parts which are the So-Li Helmet, So-Li Bracelet, and So-Li Bag. The So-Li Helmet guides them to avoid hindrance equipped handphone component as the speaker whose function is to deliver object information by the digital assistant. This part is also equipped by depth sensor and 360-degree lidar sensor.
Next, So-Li Bag is functioned as the bag for data processing designed specifically for arduous data management. Inside the bag, there is a laptop installed with Roboting Operating System (ROS) to process the data caught by the sensor.
“The last one is So-Li Bracelet which is a vibrating bracelet that delivers information regarding the proximity of object surrounding the blind person in the form of vibration. To be connected with the So-Li Bag and So-Li Helmet, it uses data communication through wifi,” Andreas added.
This innovative product successfully achieved the Bronze Prize in Seoul International Invention Fair (SIIF) and the special award for innovation from the University of King Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia on Saturday (11/30/2019) in South Korea. SIIF is an international invention and innovation competition in the form of an exhibition, where the participants present and showcase their products as the winner.
“Our team is excellent in the aspect of presentation, commercialization, and innovation. In the presentation, we conducted a live demonstration by using our product in front of the juries. This made the presentation became interesting which other participants rarely conducted the same technique,” Andreas explained.
Besides, the University of King Abdulaziz was impressed by the idea and effort of our team in innovating the product aiming to help the blind people. They saw a great potential of the So-Li Sense to exist in the market place.
“Nonetheless, it still needs continuous development and the shape needs to be smaller so that the sale value will be higher and more useful for massive people,” she explained.
Going forward, Andreas and friends will develop their product as the canal start-up of So-Li Sense producer while promoting on the online page and advertisement and joining several events like SIIF to get the improvement of their product and investors.
“For target marketing, we aim a year since now. In one year, we will focus on the improvement, starting from shaping the body to make the product handier, then optimizing the 3D algorithm mapping and the performance of the digital assistant,” Andreas explained. HUMAS UNS/Kaffa/Imron