VIS / Vision Assistance Race
NextGuide
Switzerland
About the Team
We are a team of three co-founders with backgrounds in engineering and AI. We all met at ETH Zurich and have been working on Next-Guide since 2019.
Alexander holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich and is currently pursuing his master's, where he focuses on machine intelligence. He holds a patent for several assistive and machine learning-based technologies. His work has been recognized through various awards related to technical and entrepreneurial achievements. Alexander's professional experience includes roles at Stadler, where he built autonomously driving trains.
Thomas is currently pursuing his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering in Karlsruhe. His professional engagements include software engineering positions at MathWorks. He has received several awards relating to his contributions to assistive technologies, especially the Arthur Fischer Prize, and he was ranked first in Germany's national competition on artificial intelligence.
Arvid is a young scholar and entrepreneur. His research focuses on bioinformatics, clinical genomics, computer architecture, and the early detection of cancer. Throughout his graduate studies, he specialized in clinical metagenomics and early-stage cancer detection. Arvid also co-founded NextGuide, where he develops AI assistance technology for visually impaired individuals. His professional experience, teaching, and graduate studies include roles at CERN and the SAFARI Research Group of ETH and CMU. Arvid has published several works on bioinformatics, metagenomics, and clinical genomics. He also holds an excellence scholarship from the Swiss Study Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting the top 3% of students based on their exceptional academic impact, creativity, and character.
NextGuide
About the Pilot
Giuseppe studies religion at UZH. He was born with partial blindness and relies on a traditional white cane.
About the Device
Our smart white cane, Next Guide, is designed to assist visually impaired individuals. At the core of the Next Guide's functionality is a haptic pointer, which provides the visually impaired user with an optimal trajectory. Our human-centric design, aimed at fostering independent navigation, includes vibration and sound alerts to read out text or respond to dangers. The cane is made from lightweight carbon fibre and employs machine intelligence to continuously learn and adjust to new environments. Next Guide exemplifies a pivotal advancement in assistive technology to empower visually impaired individuals.
For more information, take a look at next-guide.com.
