FCDS Senior Ron Saramya Wins $15,000 for Pathlight Device
Imagine a world where visually impaired people could navigate using light instead of having to rely on a cane. Ron Saramya ’25 did. After months of hard work, he developed a prototype for a device called Pathlight that made this hypothetical a reality.
The idea for Pathlight came from an unexpected friendship that began the summer before Ron’s junior year. He met Ariyan Patel at a Yale summer program and the two instantly hit it off. When they were walking back from dinner one night, a car sped past them and they both commented on how they could follow the source of the light despite being unable to see the car itself.
“My friend came up with this crazy idea, asking, how would this work for blind people?” Ron said.
After more research, they learned that most visually impaired individuals are still able to perceive light. Ron gained further insight from his former chemistry teacher Dr. Will Sponholtz, who was visually impaired, and he liked their idea.
“So that’s kind of how the idea sprung from there, to be a navigational device to help blind individuals and visually impaired people navigate their surroundings safely and more independently,” Ron said.
Ron and Ariyan added another friend, Kushal Patel, to the team, and the three communicated over Zoom to work on Pathlight. They pitched their concept at a competition last year and implemented the judges’ advice in the next phases of the project.
In order to gather customer feedback and create a prototype, they visited students at facilities for the blind like Tracy’s Little Red Schoolhouse in Winston-Salem.
“It was so great to see them use the device itself,” Ron said. “We had a near-100 percent success rate for them being able to detect obstacles.”
In addition to assisting with navigation, Ron hopes Pathlight will help the visually impaired feel more integrated into society.
“A traditional walking cane is not only an ineffective navigational tool, but it also makes it really hard for visually impaired people to socialize with others because there’s a huge stigma against the cane,” Ron said. “It was the biggest factor on why they felt so alone.”
The current iteration of Pathlight has a visor the user wears like a headset. The device utilizes LED lights and audio cues played through a mini computer. Ron says his engineering and computer science classes gave him the skills he needed to design the technology. He’s grateful to former FCDS Engineering Teacher Joe Trotter for teaching him the basics of circuitry and programming through his three engineering courses.
“We’re grateful for the school’s support in fostering Ron’s creativity and problem-solving skills, which have been instrumental in achieving this milestone,” said Samy Saramya, Ron’s father, who helped mentor the team.
The team presented the Pathlight prototype at two national competitions in November. They were awarded a prize of $5,000 at the Lioncage Pitch Competition at Penn State Great Valley under the young entrepreneur category. The team went on to win a $10,000 grant at the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) Be More Grant Competition, a Shark Tank style competition at Georgia Tech.
Ron’s team will use the grant money from competitions to invest in marketing the device and continue building a better Pathlight prototype with more advanced AI.
“We all agreed to keep working on it in college and we really think it’s a thing for the future,” Ron said. He plans to major in biomedical engineering in college next year.
Forsyth Country Day School (FCDS) is a private, college preparatory, independent school for preschool through high school located in Lewisville, NC, just outside of Winston-Salem. Students benefit from a challenging academic curriculum, fine and performing arts, competitive athletics, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.
Non-Discrimination Policy: Forsyth Country Day School is committed to administering all education and employment activities without discrimination based on one’s race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Non-Discrimination Policy: Forsyth Country Day School is committed to administering all education and employment activities without discrimination based on one’s race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
