ai roboticsSubmitted
Sightra: Intelligent Indoor Mapping and Navigation for Human Mobility
by brian gillo
Blind and low-vision people cannot move independently through indoor spaces because no reliable map of that space exists in a form they can use. GPS has no signal indoors, and static floor plans (where they exist at all) are visual documents — useless without sight. Without a live, machine-readable understanding of a space, there is nothing to guide a person through it safely or independently. This affects 285M+ visually impaired people worldwide (WHO, 2023), including 300K+ in Kenya (KNBS), across every hospital, school, bank and transport terminal they need to enter. The deeper problem is a mapping and localization gap, not just a guidance gap — solving navigation requires first solving how a space is sensed, mapped and tracked in real time.
mobility accessSubmitted
Sightra: Designed for mobility, built for dignity
by brian gillo
Blind and low-vision people cannot move independently through indoor and outdoor spaces. A white cane only reacts on contact — by the time an obstacle is felt, it's already too close. GPS, the backbone of most navigation apps, has no signal indoors, so it offers nothing once someone walks through a door. This leaves every unfamiliar building — a hospital, a school, a bank, a transport terminal — as a barrier that has to be learned alone, every single time, often with no fallback but asking a stranger for help.
This affects 285M+ visually impaired people worldwide (WHO, 2023), including 300K+ in Kenya (KNBS). It matters because independent mobility is a precondition for almost everything else — getting to a hospital appointment alone, attending school without an escort, opening a bank account without assistance, holding a job that requires moving through an office building. Without it, independence in healthcare, education and employment is quietly rationed by how well someone else can guide you. The value of solving this isn't convenience — it's dignity and equal access to the same public and institutional spaces everyone else navigates freely.
