Every year, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup draws the world’s brightest student technologists into a high-stakes tournament, but the 2025 edition brings a poignant, deeply personal narrative to the fore. Two Stanford juniors, Daniel Kim and Arjun Oberoi, have propelled their startup dream into the global spotlight by tackling a challenge born out of love and necessity: helping their elders reclaim independence through technology. Their brainchild, called Argus, is not simply another gadget; it’s a potential lifeline for millions whose lives are circumscribed by low vision—a testament to both familial devotion and technological audacity.
Argus began not in a lab or startup incubator, but in the homes of two immigrant families facing the daily realities of preventable limitations. Daniel Kim’s story is steeped in resilience; his grandmother, Lin Lee, a second-degree black belt and survivor of both the Korean War and immigrant struggle, faced a more insidious adversary: the inexorable decline of vision due to retinal issues. For Arjun Oberoi, witnessing his grandfather’s battle with macular degeneration brought the issue closer to home. In both cases, the emotional toll of watching skilled, resourceful elders lose their independence resonated profoundly—the result: a drive to build, not just for academic accolades, but for a cause both personal and universal.
Their solution, Argus, is imbued with empathy. Its goal is simple yet profound: to empower people like Lin Lee and Arjun’s grandfather to move about their world, identify obstacles, interact with loved ones, and complete everyday tasks with newfound confidence. The project’s name itself—borrowed from Argus Panoptes, Greek mythology’s “all-seeing one”—is a clever nod both to technical capability and mythic aspiration.
While there are services and technologies aimed at this population, accessibility and usability often lag behind the promise. Devices might lack portability, require constant connection to a phone, or drown users in complex interfaces. With an increasingly aging population, the unmet demand for affordable, practical, and easily adopted assistive solutions is only going to grow.
What distinguishes their approach is an obsessive focus on usability and autonomy. “Many solutions are either heavy, inconvenient, or require you to keep your phone nearby at all times,” Arjun explains. Argus aims to sidestep these pitfalls by leveraging a radical new technology for wireless connectivity—Wi-R—and a hybrid of edge and cloud-based AI processing.
Second is the AI architecture. Argus is designed so that basic operations—such as object recognition, obstacle alerts, or audio feedback—are handled on the device itself (edge computing), which means fast, local response and privacy protection for sensitive information. For more complex tasks, like facial recognition or interpreting complicated scenarios, Argus taps into the power of the cloud, specifically Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry models. By combining real-time edge logic with scalable cloud intelligence, the device achieves a balance between responsiveness, accuracy, and battery longevity.
Importantly, this design means Argus doesn’t require users to constantly tether their phone—a major usability win for elderly or less tech-savvy users.
This architecture also carries profound privacy advantages, as much data processing occurs locally. Only with user permission, or for more demanding AI tasks, does sensitive information get pushed to encrypted cloud systems.
Early test feedback has been encouraging, particularly from Daniel’s grandmother, who reportedly felt the device restored some of the independence she’d thought lost for good. Such emotional validation, while insufficient alone, is an important early indicator of real-world impact and adoption potential.
At stake in the finals are not just bragging rights, but $100,000 in prize money and a mentorship session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. Such support could be critical for advancing Argus from prototype to production, as well as navigating the labyrinthine paths of regulatory approval and medical device reimbursement.
Securing FDA clearance is neither cheap nor quick. It involves rigorous clinical testing, safety assessments, and documented effectiveness. The process can cost several million dollars and take years to complete. However, the rewards are enormous: Medicare coverage would dramatically expand Argus's addressable market and could catalyze further adoption worldwide.
Argus stands out in several ways:
Furthermore, as populations age across developed nations, the cost of assisted living and home care is ballooning. Enabling older adults to live independently longer could generate significant economic savings and higher quality of life. If Medicare and other insurers come on board, Argus might catalyze a wave of smart assistive technologies that could reshape standards for elder care.
On the technical front, pioneering wireless and AI methodologies could set Argus apart—if the claims about battery life and power consumption borne out of Wi-R research transfer successfully from the lab to mass production.
The risks, however, are nontrivial:
The Stanford duo’s aspiration, to make the world navigable for millions living with low vision, is by no means small. They have already taken impressive strides, from prototyping and competition wins to earning direct validation from users who matter most. If they succeed in surmounting technical, regulatory, and commercial hurdles, Argus could become a template not just for assistive technology, but for empathetic innovation writ large.
Regardless of the result at the Imagine Cup finals, the message is clear: The future belongs to those who build with both intellect and empathy—and who never lose sight of the people at the heart of every technological revolution.
Source: The Official Microsoft Blog Stanford students vie to win the 2025 Imagine Cup with a device to help people with low vision | Microsoft Bay Area Blog
Argus began not in a lab or startup incubator, but in the homes of two immigrant families facing the daily realities of preventable limitations. Daniel Kim’s story is steeped in resilience; his grandmother, Lin Lee, a second-degree black belt and survivor of both the Korean War and immigrant struggle, faced a more insidious adversary: the inexorable decline of vision due to retinal issues. For Arjun Oberoi, witnessing his grandfather’s battle with macular degeneration brought the issue closer to home. In both cases, the emotional toll of watching skilled, resourceful elders lose their independence resonated profoundly—the result: a drive to build, not just for academic accolades, but for a cause both personal and universal.Their solution, Argus, is imbued with empathy. Its goal is simple yet profound: to empower people like Lin Lee and Arjun’s grandfather to move about their world, identify obstacles, interact with loved ones, and complete everyday tasks with newfound confidence. The project’s name itself—borrowed from Argus Panoptes, Greek mythology’s “all-seeing one”—is a clever nod both to technical capability and mythic aspiration.
The Problem of Low Vision: A Global Perspective
The significance of Argus is magnified by the scale of its target challenge. According to the World Health Organization, at least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness, and at least one billion of those cases could have been prevented or have yet to be addressed with current interventions. In the United States alone, the CDC estimates that over 12 million people aged 40 and over experience some form of vision impairment. Conditions such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy disproportionately affect older adults, often stripping them of mobility and independence.While there are services and technologies aimed at this population, accessibility and usability often lag behind the promise. Devices might lack portability, require constant connection to a phone, or drown users in complex interfaces. With an increasingly aging population, the unmet demand for affordable, practical, and easily adopted assistive solutions is only going to grow.
From Dorm Room to Imagine Cup Finals
Daniel and Arjun’s pathway to the Imagine Cup finals was neither accidental nor easy. As students at Stanford—Daniel focusing on mathematics and neuroscience, Arjun on computer science and electrical engineering—the two bonded over both academic ambition and startup dreams. Their shared empathy for family members navigated the boundaries between theory and real-world impact. Tinkering through their freshman year, the duo began iterating on a concept that would become Argus: a two-part device, consisting of a discreet camera module clipped to a pair of glasses, connected wirelessly to a palm-sized compute unit easily stowed in a pocket.What distinguishes their approach is an obsessive focus on usability and autonomy. “Many solutions are either heavy, inconvenient, or require you to keep your phone nearby at all times,” Arjun explains. Argus aims to sidestep these pitfalls by leveraging a radical new technology for wireless connectivity—Wi-R—and a hybrid of edge and cloud-based AI processing.
Technological Leap: Wi-R and the Hybrid AI Stack
The technical heart of Argus is twofold. First is Wi-R, a relatively new wireless transmission medium that uses the conductivity of human skin as a signal path. This technology is not science fiction; it’s an emerging field, and research out of several universities—including Stanford and others—has demonstrated promising results regarding power efficiency and reduced electromagnetic interference. According to academic studies, Wi-R can consume up to 100 times less power than traditional Wi-Fi, extending battery life dramatically for wearable devices. However, it should be noted that Wi-R is not yet deployed at scale in consumer products, so there remain questions regarding long-term safety, reliability, and regulatory compliance.Second is the AI architecture. Argus is designed so that basic operations—such as object recognition, obstacle alerts, or audio feedback—are handled on the device itself (edge computing), which means fast, local response and privacy protection for sensitive information. For more complex tasks, like facial recognition or interpreting complicated scenarios, Argus taps into the power of the cloud, specifically Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry models. By combining real-time edge logic with scalable cloud intelligence, the device achieves a balance between responsiveness, accuracy, and battery longevity.
Importantly, this design means Argus doesn’t require users to constantly tether their phone—a major usability win for elderly or less tech-savvy users.
A Closer Look at the Argus User Experience
The Argus system revolves around natural voice interaction. Users can issue simple commands—“What is this object?”, “Who is in front of me?”, or “Is there anything in my way?” The camera, which is purposefully unobtrusive, scans the environment and relays information via bone-conduction audio or a tiny earpiece, minimizing disruption and stigma. The compute unit, light enough for a shirt pocket, orchestrates data flow and runs a power-thrifty version of core AI models, keeping latency low.This architecture also carries profound privacy advantages, as much data processing occurs locally. Only with user permission, or for more demanding AI tasks, does sensitive information get pushed to encrypted cloud systems.
Early test feedback has been encouraging, particularly from Daniel’s grandmother, who reportedly felt the device restored some of the independence she’d thought lost for good. Such emotional validation, while insufficient alone, is an important early indicator of real-world impact and adoption potential.
Competition, Recognition, and Road to Production
Daniel and Arjun’s progress was validated long before reaching the Imagine Cup finals. Their win at the Red Bull Basement US National Final in November 2024 gave the project national attention and a valuable platform. But the Imagine Cup represents a leap in stakes. The 2025 global field included over a thousand teams hailing from more than 75 countries, representing some of the world's top technical programs. To reach the top three is, by itself, an accomplishment that lends significant credibility to Argus, raising its profile in the eyes of potential investors, partners, and regulators.At stake in the finals are not just bragging rights, but $100,000 in prize money and a mentorship session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. Such support could be critical for advancing Argus from prototype to production, as well as navigating the labyrinthine paths of regulatory approval and medical device reimbursement.
Regulatory Hurdles and the Promise of Accessibility
Daniel and Arjun are realistic about what comes next. Their hope is to secure US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for Argus, classifying it as “durable medical equipment.” If successful, this designation would open doors to Medicare reimbursement, making the device accessible to people across socioeconomic strata—a crucial milestone for true impact.Securing FDA clearance is neither cheap nor quick. It involves rigorous clinical testing, safety assessments, and documented effectiveness. The process can cost several million dollars and take years to complete. However, the rewards are enormous: Medicare coverage would dramatically expand Argus's addressable market and could catalyze further adoption worldwide.
A Crowded Field: How Argus Stacks Up
The challenge for any assistive device is differentiation. The market already features several electronic aids for the visually impaired, including OrCam MyEye, eSight Eyewear, and AIRA’s live-assistance subscription service. Each of these has strengths—OrCam’s powerful on-device AI, eSight’s visual enhancement through cameras and displays, AIRA’s real-time human guidance.Argus stands out in several ways:
- No Required Smartphone: OrCam and eSight generally depend on pairing with external devices, increasing complexity. Argus operates standalone.
- Wireless Innovation: Wi-R technology could represent a game-changer for portability and all-day use, should it prove robust and safe for mainstream deployment.
- Adaptive Hybrid AI: The edge/cloud split offers both speed and flexibility, potentially beating solutions that force users to choose between on-device speed and cloud-scale intelligence.
- Natural Voice Interface: Conversational AI is more intuitive and less stigmatizing than physical buttons or complex touch panels for many users.
The Potential Social Impact
If Argus succeeds in achieving wide adoption, its societal benefits could be substantial. Restoring low-vision individuals’ ability to recognize faces, navigate crowded spaces, and interact spontaneously could dramatically reduce loneliness and dependence. Family members would regain peace of mind, while broader communities would benefit from more inclusive environments.Furthermore, as populations age across developed nations, the cost of assisted living and home care is ballooning. Enabling older adults to live independently longer could generate significant economic savings and higher quality of life. If Medicare and other insurers come on board, Argus might catalyze a wave of smart assistive technologies that could reshape standards for elder care.
Critical Analysis: Strengths and Risks
Argus’s greatest strengths lie in its user-centric design, technical ambition, and the authenticity of its founders’ motivation. By building for their own grandparents first, Daniel and Arjun have anchored Argus in real-world needs, reducing the risk of “solutionism” that plagues many tech startups.On the technical front, pioneering wireless and AI methodologies could set Argus apart—if the claims about battery life and power consumption borne out of Wi-R research transfer successfully from the lab to mass production.
The risks, however, are nontrivial:
- Technical Scalability: It remains unclear whether Wi-R can deliver at scale. Potential electromagnetic interference and regulatory concerns must be addressed. Some early wearable devices using alternate wireless approaches have stumbled during large-volume production.
- Regulatory Delays: Navigating the FDA process can drag for years, and requirements can shift. Some competitors have been stymied by difficulties in demonstrating not just technical performance but also user safety and accessibility, particularly for elderly users.
- Data Privacy and Cloud Risks: While hybrid AI models bring numerous advantages, they also open attack surfaces. Protecting sensitive health and biometric data, even with Microsoft Azure’s robust compliance standards, is a challenge that must not be underestimated.
- Competition: Incumbent players in the assistive device space have greater resources, brand recognition, and established pathways to market. Argus will have to compete on performance, price, and trustworthiness—a tall order for a startup in a regulated field.
Dedication Beyond Competition
Whether Daniel and Arjun ultimately take home the Imagine Cup crown, their journey is already marked by meaningful milestones. Feedback from early user testing, especially Daniel’s grandmother’s emotional endorsement, underscores both the human stakes and the sense of familial legacy entwined with Argus’s development. In Daniel’s words, creating Argus feels like “helping my grandmother in a bigger way”—an impulse that could well resonate with millions of families navigating the intersection of aging and technology.Conclusion: A Vision for the Future
As technology races ahead, the gap between innovation and accessibility remains stubbornly wide. The story of Argus—engineered by and for real families, leveraging state-of-the-art wireless and AI, and guided by a steadfast commitment to dignity—reminds us that the greatest breakthroughs often begin with close observation of everyday struggles.The Stanford duo’s aspiration, to make the world navigable for millions living with low vision, is by no means small. They have already taken impressive strides, from prototyping and competition wins to earning direct validation from users who matter most. If they succeed in surmounting technical, regulatory, and commercial hurdles, Argus could become a template not just for assistive technology, but for empathetic innovation writ large.
Regardless of the result at the Imagine Cup finals, the message is clear: The future belongs to those who build with both intellect and empathy—and who never lose sight of the people at the heart of every technological revolution.
Source: The Official Microsoft Blog Stanford students vie to win the 2025 Imagine Cup with a device to help people with low vision | Microsoft Bay Area Blog