Juggling school, work, and innovation: Team yaR’s James Dyson Award journey

Note: This feature was first published on 17 September 2024.

Making a difference was what drew Yajat, Shrivardhan, Sparsh, and Manas together to take part in the James Dyson Award 2024. 

Run by the James Dyson Foundation, James Dyson’s charitable trust, the James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages, and seeks to inspire the next generation of design engineers and to get young people excited about design engineering. In fact, our Editor-in-Chief, Vijay, was also part of the James Dyson Award's judging panel back in 2020.

Despite being in different universities, the four boys came together to develop yaR.

yaR, a small, wearable pendant taps on artificial intelligence (AI) to help the visually impaired understand their surroundings and navigate their environment. Meaning “friend” in Hindi, the team hopes that yaR can be a trusted companion for the visually impaired who are looking for a more independent life and can turn to yaR for help as their virtual visual assistant.

As a team, the yaR boys ended up as the “National Runner-up, Singapore” in this year’s iteration of the James Dyson Award. 

What are your names, and what course are you pursuing at university?

Sparsh: NUS, Computer Engineering with a Second Major in Innovation and Design and NUS College Honours, Year 3.

Manas Bam: NUS, Computer Science with a Second Major in Innovation and Design and NUS College Honours, Year 2.

Yajat Gulati: NTU, Computer Science with a Second Major in Business.

Shrivardhan Goenka: NTU, Computer Science, Year 3.

Our team came together through a mix of old connections and new friendships. Manas, Yajat, and Shrivardhan knew each other from their time at NTU, where they had collaborated on various projects. When Manas transferred to NUS, that's where he met Sparsh. We all hit it off right away and decided to work on this project together. What really clicked for us was not just our complementary skills in hardware and software, but also how much fun we had working as a team.

How did your interest in product development start? Was there something in particular that inspired you to get into this field?

Our entire team - Yajat, Shrivardhan, Sparsh, and Manas - has always been passionate about bringing ideas to life. For some of us, it began with reimagining Lego sets, while others found themselves tinkering in school hardware labs, even during class time. What truly inspires us is the pure curiosity and wonder that comes with creation. We're driven by a simple question: "Can we build something meaningful?"

 

What inspired you to develop yaR?

Ajay, a visually impaired consultant at Deloitte, was the source of inspiration behind yaR. His daily challenges of navigating a world not designed for the visually impaired, to do things that many do seamlessly without a second thought opened our eyes to new problems we never considered before.

We were fortunate to be introduced to Ajay through Yajat's mother, who happens to work at the same firm as him. What really impressed us about Ajay was his role as a passionate advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at their company. When we decided to work on yaR, Ajay was one of the first people we thought to reach out to. His unique perspective has been invaluable in helping us ensure our designs are accessible and inclusive for all users. It's been amazing to have someone like Ajay to bounce ideas off of and to help validate our designs from an inclusivity standpoint.

The goal was straightforward – we wanted to enhance independence and quality of life for people like Ajay. We called it yaR, which means "friend" in Hindi. It felt right as we wanted to create a trusted companion, not just another gadget.

How do you balance your roles as students and developers?

To be honest, "balance" might be too generous a term for what we're doing. It's more like a constant juggling act, and sometimes the balls do drop. Picture this: two NUS and two NTU students, drowning in coursework just like our classmates, but also trying to build a startup on the side. It's chaotic, to say the least.

Our days are a blur of racing from one class to another, frantically taking notes, and then diving into yaR development late into the night. We're soldering boards at 2 AM, debugging code during lunch breaks, and sneaking in project calls between lectures. Sleep? That's a luxury we can rarely afford, averaging maybe 5 hours on a good night.

We've had to make some tough choices. Social life? Pretty much non-existent at this point. We've missed birthdays, parties, and countless hangouts. There have been times when we've had to skip lectures to meet project deadlines or attend important meetings with SAVH (Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped).

Academically, we're hanging on, but it's a struggle. Our grades have taken a hit, and we've had some close calls with assignments and exams. There are days when we question if we're crazy for doing this, especially when we see our classmates enjoying college life or excelling in their studies.

But here's the thing: despite the stress, the exhaustion, and the occasional meltdown, we keep going. Why? Because we genuinely believe in yaR's potential to make a difference. Every time we test the device with a visually impaired person and see their face light up, it recharges our batteries. It reminds us why we're putting ourselves through this madness.

Is it sustainable? Probably not in the long term. Are we learning invaluable lessons about time management, prioritisation, and our own limits? Absolutely. It's not a perfect balance by any means, but it's a journey we've chosen, challenges and all. We're giving it our all, hoping that someday, it'll all be worth it.

What skills have you learnt from your teachers that you have found most beneficial in your development work?

We've been fortunate to learn from exceptional mentors. Dr. Jovan, through the Innovation & Design (iDP) program at NUS, taught us the fundamentals of design thinking and how to nurture an idea from conception to innovation. Manas's internship at the Smart Systems Institute (SSI) Lab, working with Dr. Nuwan and Mr. Keat, provided invaluable insights into wearable technology development.

Professor Suranga at the NUS Department of Information Systems & Analytics, School of Computing, with his extensive experience in assistive technology, has been instrumental in helping us understand the needs of the visually impaired community. These mentors have not only imparted technical knowledge but also instilled in us the importance of user-centric design and the potential of technology to make a meaningful difference.

 

How have your experiences influenced your approach to design?

The process of design engineering appeals most to us – the challenge of turning abstract ideas into something tangible and building something useful that sparks joy.

It’s like solving a puzzle – finding a neat solution to the messy, complex, real-world problems – that makes it exhilarating. It’s satisfying to start with an idea, work through the technical details, and end up with a functional prototype.

While it may be surprising to some, being able to get a product to market is a bonus. Each project, successful or not, brings huge learnings and skills in the process – from materials to manufacturing processes, and even users’ needs. This process of continuous learning is intellectually stimulating while the iterative nature of design keeps things interesting, driving us to constantly improve our craft.

Can you walk us through a typical day in your life, balancing school and development?

A typical day for us starts around 9 AM with our first classes. Throughout the day, we maintain constant communication, sharing updates about our work with SAVH (Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped), hardware delivery schedules, new ideas, or any other project-related information. Between classes, we squeeze in time for homework and readings, usually wrapping up our academic responsibilities around 6 PM.

The evening is when we fully immerse ourselves in yaR's development. Some nights, Yajat and Shrivardhan come to NUS; on others, Sparsh and Manas head to NTU. We spend these hours soldering components, writing embedded code, testing various camera types, or optimizing AI processing algorithms. This is undoubtedly the part of the day we all look forward to most - it's when we can truly be builders, refining our ideas and enjoying the process of creation.

Our work often stretches late into the night, sometimes until 2 or 3 AM. It's exhausting but exhilarating, and we usually crash into bed immediately after, ready to do it all again the next day.



What were some of the biggest challenges you faced developing yaR and how did you overcome them?

We made many mistakes along the way. But each setback taught us something new. The biggest challenge was trying to understand the needs of the visually impaired. Every conversation made us realise how much we didn't know. We'd make assumptions about what we thought would be helpful, only to have users point out issues we never considered. It was a constant process of learning and adjusting our thinking.

And then there was the hardware. As programmers, we’re spoilt with quick iterations – push an update, fix a bug. But hardware doesn't work like that. Every change, regardless of how big or small, means new designs, parts, and components. It's a slow and expensive process, and forces you to think several steps ahead.

The users we worked with were incredibly patient and generous with their time. Without their input, yaR wouldn't have become what it is.

Why did you decide to take part in the James Dyson Award 2024? What did you gain from taking part?

We entered the James Dyson Award to get an external perspective on yaR. After months of user testing, we were curious how it would measure up against other innovations.

The award offers a unique vantage point. It's a chance to put yaR in front of people who've seen a wide range of ideas. Their feedback, whether we win or not, is valuable.

There's also the practical aspect. The visibility that comes with the award could help connect us with more potential users and collaborators. That's crucial for refining yaR further.

yaR still has a long way to go. But we think it's addressing a real need, and the James Dyson Award seemed like a good way to test that belief and potentially open up new avenues for the project.

Any advice for anyone who wishes to participate in next year's competition?

The world already has far more experienced researchers, developers, and professionals. But what the world lacks is a childlike curiosity and wonder to question reality and imagine. As young inventors, we are not caged by the "realities of our world". Our most precious resource is just this: freedom to reimagine the world. So, to the young inventors out there, we say "The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. This is the time of explorers".

Read Next:-

• Singapore inventors make the shortlist for James Dyson Awards International 2022 shortlist
• Local students takes international top spot in James Dyson Award 2021

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