Alexander Du, a 17-year-old student from Sewickley, Pennsylvania, has been named the 2026 Presidential AI Challenge National Champion for inventing IRIS, an AI-powered wearable device designed to help blind and visually impaired people navigate their environment. The teen built the $170 system after watching his grandmother struggle to navigate the world differently after losing her sight. The lightweight, discreet glasses he developed act as a virtual guide dog, helping users detect obstacles and navigate them through physical vibrations. An Invention Born of Pure NecessityAlexander Du never planned to become an inventor. But then she watched her grandmother struggle after losing her sight. He saw firsthand the price of blindness. She held his arm tightly as they crossed the streets. He became her guide, telling her about curbs, cracks in the sidewalks, everything she could no longer see. “It can be detrimental to people’s lives,” Du told Trib Live. “That inspired me. At home, I got more involved in this. I thought, ‘What if there was a way to give my grandmother her independence back?'” Du realized that all the help her grandmother received from family was still inefficient. He wanted her to have her independence. A traditional cane was still insufficient. There were other technologies, such as smart glasses, but they were still expensive. So he decided to build one called IRIS (Intelligent Responsive Imaging System), a pair of lightweight glasses that cost $170 and function as a virtual guide dog. The device maps its environment in 3D in real time, guides users around obstacles through vibration feedback, and works completely offline. How IRIS sees what others can’t The glasses Du built use AI to create a three-dimensional map of the environment. They constantly process what is in front of and around the user. When an obstacle appears, the glasses not only alert the user; They direct them through vibrations. Think of it as a physical push in the right direction. The results speak for themselves. The system reduces collision accidents by 80% compared to a traditional white cane. This system comes combined with a mobile application that manages navigation. GPS guides users between destinations. There is a built-in AI assistant that transcribes text and describes scenes using voice commands. Everything runs on the device; You don’t need to be connected to the cloud or the Internet. And for someone navigating the world independently, these simple things really matter. The price of the glasses also matters. Commercial alternatives cost more than $6,000 and are out of reach for many visually impaired people around the world. Du has built something powerful for a fraction of that cost. But none of this was easy for the 17-year-old. He spent his nights teaching himself AI and building IRIS from scratch. During those months, he cold emailed professors at the University of Pittsburgh. That’s when he was granted access to loaned lab space. He failed several times before finding success. Unfortunately, Du’s grandmother passed away before he completed his work on IRIS. But he is committed to making the system accessible to millions of people. “In developing IRIS, I learned that when the path doesn’t exist, you do it yourself: one piece of paper, one cold email, one failed solder at a time.” Meanwhile, Du’s efforts also caught the attention of First Lady Melania Trump. The teenager was recognized at the White House during the Presidential AI Challenge awards ceremony, an event that honored young Americans using AI to develop technology. “My experience at the White House was truly amazing. I’m still trying to process it. Shaking the first lady’s hand and being recognized for the work I’ve spent the last few months doing has been really rewarding,” Du told the outlet. Du also won the 2026 Barron Award.
