GuideLens

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Inspiration

We wanted to make the world easier to navigate for people who are visually impaired or traveling in places where they don’t understand the language. We realized that phones already have cameras, AI, and translation models, so why not turn them into a real-time “smart guide” that helps anyone understand what’s around them?

What it does

GuideLens uses your phone’s camera to read text, translate signs, and identify objects around you. Whether you're trying to read a menu in another language or understand what’s in front of you, GuideLens gives instant audio feedback so you can move confidently and independently.

How we built it

We built a web-based prototype using: Google Gemini Vision API for text reading + object recognition Google Translate API for real-time language translation HTML/CSS/JS to create a clean and simple interface Text-to-Speech to provide audio descriptions for accessibility We focused on making everything lightweight so it works smoothly on any device. Google Studio AI pro

Challenges we ran into

Getting the UI/UX to be more simple and good we changed ideas mid-way through

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A thorough model Created a working prototype that can read text, translate it, and identify objects in real time

Designed a UI that is extremely simple and accessible

Built everything from scratch within the hackathon time limit

Made something that could genuinely help people in the real world

What we learned

How to integrate multiple AI services into one smooth workflow

How to design with accessibility at the core instead of an afterthought

How to build fast, test fast, and iterate like crazy

That sometimes the simplest idea is the most impactful

What's next for GuideLens

Add offline mode so it works without internet

Improve accuracy with more object categories

Add a “scene summary” mode for describing an entire environment

Build a native mobile app with vibration feedback for blind users

Partner with accessibility organizations to test in real scenarios

Built With

• canvas
• gemini
• google
• google-translate
• javascript
• mediadevices
• react