Akash Ragam and Tanay Chitlur: IntelliCane: An AI Navigation Cane for Visual Impairment
IntelliCane: An AI Navigation Cane for Visual Impairment.
Akash Ragam and Tanay Chitlur developed IntelliCane, combining a servo-guided cane, a monocular camera, deep-learning environmental mapping and agentic decision logic. The goal is real-time obstacle avoidance that goes beyond a passive warning and helps guide the user through changing surroundings.
Innovation mindset: Improve a familiar, trusted mobility tool by adding intelligence around it instead of forcing users to adopt an entirely alien object.
Official project title: IntelliCane: An Agentic Approach to Real-Time Obstacle Avoidance and Intelligent Decision-Making for the Visually Impaired Through a Monocular Servo-Guided Cane Using Deep Learning-Based Environmental Mapping (Robotics and Intelligent Machines).
IP note
No public IP record; any filing made around the May 2025 fair would not yet be published under the 18-month rule — register check due from late 2026.
Recognition
Regeneron ISEF 2025 — Third Award ($1,200).
What this means for a student inventor in India
[Editor: 120–200 words connecting this story to the Indian route — Section 6 (any true inventor may apply), provisional vs complete specification, disclosure at fairs (Section 31), renewals, and who owns what when a school is involved. Link to the relevant MYCrave guide.]
Related young innovators
- Mihir Garimella — FlyBot
- Harshwardhan Zala — Drone that detects and maps buried landmines (Aerobotics7, EAGLE A7)
- Chinmayi Goyal — MyoAssist: User-Driven AI Exoskeleton Control
Sources
[Editor: list the 2–4 primary sources from the research notes for this entry, with the date checked.]
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