Engineering Student Pasupuleti Ruthvik from Chittoor Develops ‘Untethered’ Smart Goggles for Visually Impaired Swimmers

Addressing a critical safety challenge faced by visually impaired swimmers, twenty-year-old engineering student Pasupuleti Ruthvik from Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, has engineered an innovative assistive device called ‘Untethered’. The smart goggles utilize advanced ultrasonic sensing to accurately measure a swimmer’s distance from the pool wall, combined with intuitive haptic feedback to deliver a physical alert as the wall approaches. Inspired by a friend’s concussion injury and fueled by his childhood passion for swimming, Ruthvik’s invention aims to empower visually impaired athletes to navigate swimming pools with enhanced safety, autonomy, and confidence.

Recognition in Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026:
The breakthrough project has earned a spot among the Top 20 teams of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026, a national innovation competition designed to nurture technology-led solutions among young changemakers using design thinking and mentorship. Reflecting on his journey through the program’s bootcamp, Ruthvik noted that mentorship shifted his perspective from merely testing technical feasibility to focusing intensely on user empathy, comfort, and real-world adoption, transforming his academic prototype into a viable, user-centric product.

Vision for Scalability and Inclusive Sports:
Looking ahead, Ruthvik aims to scale ‘Untethered’ into an affordable, commercial assistive product capable of serving visually impaired swimmers across India and globally. Moving beyond a laboratory prototype, his core mission is to create a tangible societal impact where athletes can experience independent training and competitive swimming making sports safer and more inclusive, one stroke at a time.