Grand Prize (378 teams) · TreeHacks · Feb 2026

A white cane for blind people with a small motor inside that gently pulls you toward the clearest open path, the way a guide dog would. The smart canes in stores only warn you about obstacles, and cost about 20 times more.

Why it won: The cane maps the room using the laser scanner already built into iPhones, and the motor nudges the handle left or right so your hand simply feels the safe direction. That matters because blind people already depend on their ears to know what is happening around them, so guidance that needs no beeps or voice prompts leaves their hearing free. It can also walk you to a destination, speaking directions as you go.