That Day The World Saw a Little More Clearly
That Day The World Saw a Little More Clearly

Can you read the text in the image above? For most people, it's no problem. But for those with visual impairments, reading curved or angled text on everyday signs and packaging can be difficult or even impossible. Enter grade 11 Pudong student Jasmine L., whose AI-powered vision system recently beat out over 1,000 other innovations to win one of three high school awards at the 2022 Intel AI Global Impact Festival. 

Since 9th grade, Jasmine has been working with visually impaired children through Shanghai American School's ORBIS club. "Through communicating with the students I teach in ORBIS, I learned about the challenges they face," Jasmine explained. "Recognizing scene text was one thing with they all had issues with." She also discovered that a fellow high school classmate with vision challenges struggled with the same issue, but existing solutions were either inconvenient for outdoor use or less accurate with curved text. That's when Jasmine decided to take matters into her own hands. 

Through collaborating with low-vision doctors and applying what she had learned through her courses at SAS, Jasmine began developing different iterations of what would eventually be her vision assistance system, which includes AI software, algorithms, a self-developed app, and a regular pair of glasses.  
 
After Jasmine placed first in the China round and won one of three awards at the Global Impact Festival in the 13-18 age group, she was invited by Intel to attend the 2022 China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai to display her product. "At CIIE, I was excited to see the capabilities of so many new technological advancements and learn about how they can improve our society," she recounts. "After attending CIIE, I received attention and support from Fudan University Affiliated Hospital’s low-vision doctors. We discussed future steps for improving and testing my product in real-life environments with visually impaired people.  

Jasmine's vision assistance system looks set to make a radical difference in the lives of visually impaired individuals, and we at SAS can't wait to see how she continues to impact the world. Congratulations, Jasmine. 

VISION. EVERYDAY AT SAS.  

Watch Jasmine demonstrate her system here:

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