Our year 12 and 13 engineering learners enjoyed an enriching masterclass led by Alice, Spyros, and Konstantinos from Pop2See, delving into the groundbreaking AI solutions they are developing to empower the blind community.
Pop2See is a transformative social venture, committed to crafting technology solutions that enhance the daily lives of blind or visually impaired individuals. Their focus on impact-driven technology and AI aligns with their mission to provide inclusive solutions promoting autonomy and independence within the blind community. This remarkable venture has gained global recognition, earning a silver medal in the World Robot Olympiad 2022.
Co-founders Alice and Konstantinos, both 19 and 18 years old, respectively, serve as genuine inspirations to our learners, showcasing the incredible possibilities within the realms of engineering and technology for young people.
The session began with a moving anecdote from Alice who shared the conception of the social venture. Alice spoke about a time where she broke her glasses and had to go to school. When confronted with the difficulty of navigating through her school day while visually impaired, Alice became motivated to make school and other environment more accessible for blind people.
Building on Alice's revelation, our visitors detailed a year-long process of relentless experimentation. They presented various prototypes and designs, illustrating how each experiment informed and contributed to the development of their innovative solutions.
Our learners were then treated to a demonstration of two distinct technologies created by Pop2See. In one instance, a learner wrote a word on a piece of paper, which was then processed by a camera and converted into braille for a blind person to understand. The visitors highlighted numerous situations where this technology could support blind individuals, such as reading the classroom board or deciphering crucial information on a medical prescription.
Anthony, year 11 engineering learner shared "The ideas to help blind people being able to function in life was really cool. It was inspiring to see young people doing such amazing things!'
Our visitors also gave valuable advice about starting a business by finding a problem to solve and spoke inspiring experiences through participating in competitions and delivering talks worldwide. They explained their decision to establish a social startup, reflecting on the positive impact they aimed to bring about.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to our visitors for delivering an inspirational talk, showcasing to our young learners how AI, engineering, and innovation can collaboratively drive positive change. We eagerly anticipate witnessing the continued success of Pop2See and feel privileged to now be part of their remarkable journey through this remarkable talk. Thanks to Dr. Warren from University of East London for facillitating this memorable experience.
"It was my pleasure to be able to introduce yr11 and yr12 engineering learners to Dr Warren and his guests from Greece. The group gave a very motivating and inspirational presentation of their work on adaptive learning for the vision impaired. Even more impressive was that this had all been achieved by two young people that were only a year older than our yr 12 learners when they embarked on the project. Thanks again to all for this opportunity, I am sure that our learners took a great deal from this, as witnessed by the exchanging of details at the end of the presentation!" Mark, Teacher of Engineering and Assistant Principal.
