Wearable Necklace Pendant Helps Visually Impaired Bus Riders

A group of young students in Singapore is building a smart necklace pendant to help people who are visually impaired ride the bus on their own. The pendant would use cameras and sensors to identify bus numbers and read them out loud. The team hopes the device will help blind and low-vision commuters feel more confident and independent while traveling.

The project started as an iPhone app called Oculis, created by Lee Kiah Hong, 22, a student at Nanyang Technological University, and three friends. His teammates are Ryan Yeo, 21, Sriram Jeyakumar, 21, and Chia Wee Leong, 22, who are currently serving in the military. The four of them first met while studying applied artificial intelligence and analytics at Singapore Polytechnic.

They began developing the Oculis app in July 2025 as part of a program called Build for Good, run by a government tech group known as GovTech. The team received $20,000 in funding and attended mentoring sessions to help grow their idea. They also tested the app with more than 40 visually impaired users across more than 200 bus trips, collecting data and feedback along the way.

The Oculis app uses computer vision — a type of technology that lets devices see and understand images — to read bus numbers and speak them aloud. It connects to real-time bus arrival data from the Land Transport Authority. When a user's bus is one minute away, the app sends an alert using both voice instructions and phone vibrations, called haptics, to help the user point the phone in the right direction.

After testing the app, the team learned that many visually impaired users wanted a hands-free option. Lee explained that a lot of users need one hand for their white cane, and some wanted to keep the other hand free in case they fell. Because of this feedback, the team decided to develop a wearable version of the technology as a necklace pendant or possibly smart glasses.

The team also found a technical problem with the iPhone's camera. Older buses have scrolling digital displays showing the bus number, and the phone camera could not read them quickly or clearly enough. This caused a blurry, pulsing image on the screen, making the app unreliable for those buses. The wearable pendant is being designed with better cameras and sensors to fix this issue.

The wearable device is still in the research and development stage. The team is working to make sure it is both safe and easy to use before testing it with visually impaired commuters. They are also deciding how the bus number announcement will be delivered — options include a small loudspeaker or a Bluetooth connection to earphones.

If the team arranges a mass production deal and buys materials in bulk, each device is estimated to cost between $30 and $40. However, the team is juggling other commitments alongside the project, so no firm deadline has been set. If the devices do go into production, this would be one of the first tech tools focused on accessibility in Singapore's transportation system.

Lee said the idea for Oculis came from a personal experience — his uncle lost much of his vision after developing glaucoma, a serious eye disease, in 2021. After that, his uncle felt he had to depend on others just to take the bus, and even a short trip to a nearby market caused him anxiety. Lee hoped the app and pendant would help his uncle, who is in his mid-forties, feel more confident traveling alone during busy rush hours.

Not everyone believes technology alone can solve accessibility problems. Assistant Professor Victor Zhuang, who teaches disability communication at NTU, said it is exciting to see AI and wearable tech help people with disabilities. But he warned that accessibility should not become something disabled people must manage themselves by buying and maintaining special gadgets just to use public transport.

Professor Zhuang said apps and wearables should work alongside — not instead of — good infrastructure, like clear announcements, helpful signs, and trained staff. He also stressed that people with disabilities should be involved not just as testers, but in deciding which problems need solving and how solutions are designed. Their input matters at every stage of the process.

Another app called Waymap-SG is already available at 17 bus interchanges and MRT stations across Singapore. It gives step-by-step audio directions to guide users through transport locations, helping them avoid stairs and find accessible routes. Users can take photos of their surroundings so the app can figure out where they are and lead them safely to their destination.