Students and their Professor create a smart walking stick for the blind people

The Higher Council for Innovation and Excellence signed four agreements to support innovate projects in the field of smart technology created by promising youth various rom Palestinian universities, including a group of Birzeit University students.

Birzeit University’s team comprised Abdelrahim Mousa, an assistant professor at the Department of Mathematics, and students Ahmad Motan and Mahmoud Anaqwa. The won project is a “Smart Stick for Blind People- SSBP”.

According to Mousa, the project’s supervisor, the smart device helps blind people perform navigation and allows them to get around and do their work normally, easily and comfortably, without the help of others. “While a normal stick cannot detect obstacles or help someone cross the streets easily and safely and is thus not efficient enough for visually impaired persons, the smart stick can detect; with the GPS technology, and measure distances and helps avoid obstacles that might be in their ways,” Mousa explained.

The stick, according to Mousa, is supported by telecommunication devices so that blind persons can contact their families, and is set up with a tracking system to track the stick’s location when it is lost.

The agreements were signed by Chairman of the Higher Council for Innovation and Excellence (HCIE) Adnan Samara and the project’s team members. The event was attended by Ziad Tomeh, the minister’s deputy assistant at the council; Birzeit University board members Safa Nassereldin and Maysoun Ibrahim; Mohammad Abu Eid, head of HCIE’s development department; Hazem Maraaba, head of projects and incubators; George Yeousis, the manager of Birzeit University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit (IEU); and Atef Shkokani, a project coordinator at IEU.

Samara welcomed the attendees and congratulated the teams for their success. He discussed the council’s efforts in promoting innovation in Palestine, explaining that it supports project ideas and initiatives that can benefit the community and the country as a whole. “Palestinian youth has great energy for innovation and creativity, which can and will be invested into the building of solid Palestinian institutions. Your contributions are made as spirited expressions of Palestinian creativity and innovation in all fields,” she added.

Mousa thanked the IEU for taking up responsibility in promoting and fostering innovation, nurturing entrepreneurial talents, and enabling startup growth.