Connected Crosswalk Assistance Cane Earns Student Designers Trip To Summit In Houston

HERNDON, VA — Five students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Alexandria were named finalists in the Conrad Innovation Challenge for the walking cane they designed with the help of visually impaired people from the Herndon Senior Center.

TJ students Rohith Yelisetty, Arnav Bhalla, Anirudh Mantha, Adithiya Balaguru, and Tanush Kallem began developing the working prototype for their Connected Crosswalk Assistance cane in June 2022 to help visually impaired people safely navigate crosswalks.

Equipped with an ultrasonic sensor, the cane alerts the user if they are too close to an object when they're out walking. It also has a gyro-sensor to detect when the walker veers off the crosswalk. The user can also remotely activate crosswalk signals with the help of the cane's RFID sensor.

Under the guidance of coach Sumeet Bhalla, the TJ team made valuable connections in the community as they developed their prototype. In addition to meeting with both the Virginia and Fairfax transportation departments, they also interviewed visually impaired people at the Herndon Senior Center to better understand how the cane could assist them.

In February, the Connected Crosswalk Assistance team competed with 823 teams from more than 50 countries in the Conrad Innovation Challenge. They were named finalists, finishing in the top five in the health and nutrition category.

As finalists, the five TJ students and their coach traveled to Houston, Texas in April to take part in the four-day Conrad Challenge Innovation Summit.

Teams attending the summit had the opportunity to tour Space Center Houston and NASA's Johnson Space Center, as well as pitch their innovative project as part of a Shark Tank-like challenge.