At Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), innovation is never abstract — it is lived, tested, and carried into the world by our students. A shining example is the final year project by Yi Jing Heng, Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Electrical-Mechatronics), who recently completed her thesis project titled “Mobility Enhancement System for the Blind and Visually Impaired.” This work is a powerful reflection of UTM’s innovative spirit and shows how even a student’s final year project can carry meaningful, lasting impact.The idea began with a simple but profound question: how can assistive technology be made more affordable and accessible without losing its identity? Yi Jing Heng responded by creating a low-cost, modular smart cane attachment designed to empower visually impaired individuals with greater independence. To bring this vision to life, she combined machine learning, computer vision, and sensor fusion into a compact system that integrates ultrasonic sensing for obstacle detection, water detection sensors for safer mobility, real-time object recognition using ESP32-CAM with TinyML, and multimodal haptic and audio feedback for intuitive navigation. Crucially, her design preserves the symbolism and familiarity of the traditional white cane while enhancing it with artificial intelligence.

What makes this project distinctive is not only the technical achievement but also its philosophy of accessibility. By deploying a lightweight object detection model (FOMO) on affordable hardware, Yi Jing Heng has demonstrated that advanced assistive tools do not need to be expensive to be impactful. The modular design means the cane can be adapted or upgraded easily, making it practical, sustainable, and inclusive. This is innovation with a human heart, achieved within the scope of a student’s final year project.

Yi Jing Heng’s journey was supported by the invaluable mentorship of Assoc Prof. Dr. Leow Pei Ling, whose guidance helped her merge engineering creativity with AI and embedded systems. Their collaboration reflects UTM’s unique academic ecosystem, where student ingenuity and faculty expertise combine to produce solutions that resonate globally.

This project stands as proof that final year projects are not mere academic requirements but can be launchpads for real-world change. Yi Jing Heng’s smart cane attachment embodies UTM’s Innovating Sustainable Solutions tagline, showing that innovation is not confined to high-end labs or large budgets but can be realized through affordable, sustainable, and socially impactful design. It is an inspiring reminder that the ideas nurtured within our classrooms can ripple outwards to change lives, and that the amazing work of our students carries the power to shape a more inclusive future.

This story is adapted from Yi Jing Heng’s original LinkedIn post, shared with pride to highlight the amazing work our students are doing at UTM.